Lima - The annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum is to start formally on Saturday, but
several heads of state had already warmed up to face their peers at
the APEC CEO Summit Friday.
World leaders warned against protectionism and called for seizing
opportunities amid the widening financial crisis.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia, a staunch advocate of free trade,
stressed that the current pains 'should not be treated with ...
protectionism.'
'The explosion of the financial and real estate crisis that now
threatens to move onto the real and material sector of the economy is
forcing governments into rushed meetings and economic officials into
thinking up initiatives to face the situation,' he said, adding that
the world should stay away from over-regulation.
Chinese President Hu Jintao noted that nations must draw 'lessons
from the current setting and that 'governments must strengthen
guidance and oversight.'
Leaders of the 21 economies that make up APEC will have to address
these problems when they meet Saturday and Sunday to discuss the
economic crisis and other issues: How to promote growth while fixing
what is broken and how to establish stricter rules while giving
markets room to flourish.
'We are all in this together,' said Australian Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed that the
crisis has made it painfully obvious that what happens at one end of
the world impacts everyone.
The crisis has spread 'from some areas of the world to the entire
globe, from developed countries to emerging countries and from the
financial sector to the real economy,' Hu said.
In this context, whatever the nature of regulation that each APEC
economy advocates, the forum will have to arrive at an agreement this
weekend for the sake of stability and growth that benefits all.
APEC should make the most of its diversity, interdependence and
complementarity at the economic level to get through the crisis, Hu
stressed.
Earlier, the Chinese leader met with former Taiwanese vice
president Lien Chan in a historic meeting that was the first
high-level encounter between both parties outside China or Taiwan.
The two met at the Los Delfines Hotel in the Peruvian capital
ahead of the APEC, to which member economy Taiwan has for the first
time been able to send a high-level representative.
In a press conference after meeting with Hu, Lien refused to
provide too many details and said simply that the two parties
exchanged 'views on APEC's agenda' and that 'cross-strait relations
have moved forward in the direction of peace.'
Also on Friday, United States President George W Bush arrived in
Peru for his last international gathering as leader of the largest
economy in the world.
Bush, who will hand over power to president-elect Barack Obama in
January, landed in Lima as a lame-duck president amid tight security
but mild protests.
The US president's Air Force One landed at a military base near
Lima's international airport, where he was met by Peruvian Defence
Minister Antero Flores Araoz. Bush made no comments and got into a
black limousine that was escorted by a score of SUVs.
Hundreds of activists from various indigenous, student and
workers' groups gathered in different areas of Lima to protest his
presence in the Peruvian capital. About 1,500 police officers were
deployed to keep the situation under control, said police commander
Carlos Paz.
Earlier Friday, five university students were arrested in
Trujillo, about 550 kilometres north of Lima, as they attempted to
paint anti-Bush slogans on walls, Peruvian radio station RPP
reported.
USA
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