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TRUJILLO, Peru: The global financial crisis will be the main subject
of discussion when Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
ministers meet Wednesday in preparation of a summit by their
Asia-Pacific group to be held November 21 to 23.
The ministers, along with other officials from
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, would hold two days of talks
in Trujillo, a colonial-era town in northern Peru.
They would be seeking consensus positions to
allow the 21-nation group to discuss ways to confront the crisis,
which has wracked markets and set the scene for a possible global
recession.
Javier Kapsoli, the head of the economic and
social affairs unit of Peru’s economy ministry, said the urgency
of the financial turbulence had swept aside the original agenda for
the meeting.
Matters related to prices for food and
commodities would be addressed, along with proposed reforms of
capital markets and improved government spending, he said.
“The crisis comes from a breakdown in poorly
regulated markets,” Kapsoli said.
“I believe that if regulatory steps are made,
with provision for credit, with strongly focused regulation of the
financial system, it would be difficult for a collapse to occur,”
he said.
Among the nations making up APEC are Australia,
Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia,
Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and the
United States.
The Trujillo meeting would also see
representatives from the Asia Development Bank, the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund taking part.
Confirmed delegates from member states include
the Finance ministers from Australia, Canada, China and Singapore,
as well as Chile’s Economy minister and the deputy Finance
ministers from Russia and Vietnam.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will not be
present. His country voted Tuesday for a new president to succeed
George W. Bush.
-- AFP
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