Nov 19 (Reuters) - Leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies will gather this week in Lima, Peru's capital, for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum.
The Nov. 22-23 summit follows last week's meeting of the Group of 20 in Washington, where leaders from major industrialized and developing nations agreed to take steps to rescue the global economy.
Heads of state are meeting in Peru to build on the G20 accords and to discuss trade and investment, at a time when economies from Chile to China are being slammed by the crisis.
The following are facts about the APEC meeting:
- APEC, which was founded in 1989, has 21 member economies that represent more than 50 percent of global GDP, and are home to some 2.7 billion people, or 40 percent of the world's population. China, Russia and the United States are three of the group's largest members.
- The economic club aims to encourage cooperation and reduce trade and investment barriers, though decisions made at meetings are non-binding. The APEC region generated 70 percent of global economic growth during its first 10 years of existence.
- As fallout from the financial crisis has softened support for free trade, APEC members will work to defend open borders. Member economies, like countries at the G20 meeting, will push for a breakthrough in the Doha round of global trade talks.
- China, an economic heavyweight, will likely emerge from APEC as stronger still. The booming Asian country is investing in Latin America as others are pulling back because of credit concerns. China and Peru are slated to announce they have clinched a free-trade deal, China's second with a country in the Americas after Chile.
- Most APEC economies support the idea of giving emerging markets more say in the global financial order, a target that was also adopted by countries at the G20 meeting. Finance leaders could use APEC as a place to start sorting out what such a reorganization could look like.