LIMA (AFP)--Asia-Pacific leaders will issue a call this weekend to keep markets open to foreign trade despite the crisis rattling the global economy, an official drafting the statement said Tuesday.
Officials from 21 countries including the U.S., China and Japan were meeting behind closed doors Tuesday to prepare the statement which their leaders will sign at a summit Saturday and Sunday in Peru's capital Lima.
"Everyone has been speaking with the same voice saying we need to keep markets open," said Elizabeth Chelliah, chair of a committee of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum drafting the statement.
"We have to keep the door open to foreigners. You can't close the door," she told reporters.
The APEC summit is the last scheduled foreign trip for U.S. President George W. Bush, who Saturday hosted an emergency summit on the financial crisis in Washington.
Bush has staunchly defended the free-market system despite the global slowdown. Bush's successor, Barack Obama, has criticized some U.S. free-trade deals, saying they hurt U.S. workers.
Chelliah said APEC leaders believed protectionism would have a "negative domino effect" on the region.
"If you start closing the markets, then you stop buying stuff. If you stop buying stuff, then production will stop," she said.
APEC specialists meeting in Lima were completing work on a report on how to synchronize the slew of free-trade agreements within the region.
They were hoping to avoid the so-called "spaghetti bowl" effect, in which overlapping regulations present a nightmare for businesses operating across borders.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2008 17:46 ET (22:46 GMT)

Publié le 18 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones