Barak response awaited as APEC meets

As the Asia Pacific Economic Forum meets in Singapore today, the forum has found the approach of US president Barack Obama somewhat disappointing.

He is currently visiting the region and will attend the ASEAN meet; but administration officials said he would press for new trade accords only after he set out his approach to international commerce in a speech.

The APEC summit brings together leaders from 21 of the world's largest economies, which account for 44 per cent of world trade and 40 per cent of the world's population. India has been struggling to join this influential group, but has failed mainly due to opaque and arbitrary economic policies.

This year's annual summit includes, among others, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

There is plenty on the agenda - the nascent recovery from the global economic downturn, plans to create a trans-Pacific free trade area by 2020, climate change and regional security.

As the US remains preoccupied with Iraq, Afghanistan and the so-called war on terror, it seems to have taken its eye off the Asian ball, as Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said.