By Fiona Ortiz
LIMA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The leaders of the United States, China, Australia, Japan and 17 other economies huddled for a second day on Sunday in Peru at an annual Asia-Pacific forum that became the latest in a string of emergency sessions on the world economic crisis.
In a statement on Saturday leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, nations urged free trade as essential to keep the world from sliding into a deep recession, and pledged not to adopt new trade barriers for a year.
The responses to the crisis largely echoed conclusions from last week's Group of 20 meeting of powerful world economies in Washington. Nine APEC members are also in the G20.
"The international financial crisis has totally weighed on the summit. There has not been a single multilateral or bilateral discussion where that has not been the center of the talk," Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia said on Sunday morning to a local radio station.
With Japan already in recession and other countries facing cooling economies, the leaders are scheduled to meet for two hours on Sunday before releasing their final declaration, which will address everything from trade to corruption to climate change.
U.S. President George W. Bush, on his last international trip before leaving office in January, held bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, Japan and Russia during the summit.
He tried to use the forum to revive the long-stalled Doha round of global trade talks so he could hand off a work in progress to President-elect Barack Obama, who has expressed more caution about free trade than Bush.
As well as rejecting protectionism, the APEC leaders on Saturday supported overhauls of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at a time when more countries need emergency bailouts to avert economic devastation.
They also reiterated G20 calls for greater oversight of the international financial system.
APEC meetings over the last eight years have often been marked by intense anti-Bush protests and demonstrations against free trade, but protests had been muted in Peru, perhaps because the U.S. leader is so close to leaving office.
The APEC group accounts for more than half of global economic production and includes economies such as Indonesia, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Chinese President Hu Jintao told the leaders on Saturday that they need to give "adequate attention to the impact of the financial crisis on the developing world and provide necessary support to relevant countries."
Japan reiterated an offer to lend $100 billion to the IMF to prod other countries to chip in funds. (Additional reporting by Marco Aquino, editing by Patricia Zengerle)