By Neil Chatterjee
SINGAPORE, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Leaders of Asia-Pacific nations will focus on protectionism, trade imbalances and the ease of doing business when they meet in Singapore next month, the director of the APEC grouping said on Tuesday.
These are issues that have emerged as threats to a global economic recovery for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group of countries, which include the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
"For the coming summit we are not past the crisis," APEC's executive director, Michael Tay, told the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Association. "They'll be looking at whether subsidies constitute protectionist measures ... the market is now more imperfect."
Governments around the world have launched multi-billion dollar stimulus packages, including "buy local" campaigns that have led to accusations of protectionism and trade spats. APEC vowed in July to stamp out protectionism.
Tay said APEC leaders, who make non-binding commitments by consensus in the free-trade focused group, would also discuss how to retool the global economic system to narrow divides and address the downside of globalisation, including gaps between rich and poor and between developing and wealthy countries.
The 21 APEC members account for approximately 40 per cent of the world's population, 54 per cent of world GDP and 44 per cent of world trade.
EXPORT-PROMOTION POLICIES
Trade imbalances, particularly between China and the United States, have been blamed for fuelling the global economic crisis and have led to tensions between Washington and Beijing over currency policies.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Monday that Asian export-promotion policies and large U.S. budget deficits could put at risk efforts to achieve more durable growth if not curbed..
"Inclusive growth will be an important theme for us," Tay said, echoing the G20's promises to rebalance world growth. "The crisis was a wake-up call for APEC."
APEC Leaders will also endorse a World Bank index based on the ease of doing business, which is designed to both spur and measure members' efforts to deal with regulatory issues, such as giving corporate licenses.
"We have reached a stage where tariffs are as low as we can get. The challenge is now penetrating the business behind the borders," Tay said, adding the meeting would announce 4 or 5 countries to champion this, including Singapore and Hong Kong.
The leaders will be meeting in Singapore a month ahead of global climate talks in Copenhagen to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto pact.
Tay said APEC was not a climate negotiating forum, but it was another likely major topic as part of efforts to achieve sustainable growth.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)