APEC expected to maintain their stimulus until recovery

APEC will push efforts to reach a new agreement to cut tariffs and subsidies in the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. The talks aimed at reaching a global accord have been stalled for eight years and APEC is expected to warn that rising protectionism may deepen the world's economic slump.

They will pledge “utmost restraint” in implementing measures that have protectionist effects, even those considered to be WTO consistent, their draft communique says.

APEC leaders will say they are concerned the high level political commitment to conclude the Doha Round has yet to be translated into substantive progress in the negotiations.

What Will It Say About Climate Change?

APEC is not a climate body, and has no power to negotiate, making all of its decisions by consensus. But it could try to reach a common position on carbon emissions ahead of next month's U.N. sponsored talks in Copenhagen. The meeting in the Danish capital will try to hammer out a new treaty to tackle global warming, but preparatory talks have become deadlocked.

APEC leaders believe global emissions will need to peak over the next few years, and be reduced to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to the draft by leaders of some of the world's top polluting nations.

The leaders say they will achieve their APEC-wide target of reducing energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2 030 and increasing forest cover through the region by at least 20 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020. APEC has also promised to spur trade in green products or technologies.

What Are CEOS Doing At The Meeting?

An APEC CEO Summit on Friday and Saturday will involve 1,500 participants in what is being billed as the premier business event in the Asia-Pacific region. The CEOs are expected to discuss issues around the global economic recovery, whether the crisis is over for corporate earnings, the decline of the dollar, worries about a double-dip recession in the global economy, and the role of green technologies in the new economy.

Among the CEOs or chairmen coming are those from Exxon Mobil, DHL, Siemens, HSBC and China's ICBC.

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