SHANGHAI, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Amid deepening concerns about a global recession, chief executives of the world's largest corporations convened in China's financial hub on Thursday to discuss prospects for the region at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who gave the opening remarks at the CEO summit, told business leaders that bridging the gap between the richer and poorer countries of Asia was a priority for the 21-member APEC grouping.
"Given the inequalities of global economic development, any improper management of this process will have a negative impact on developing countries and small and medium-sized enterprises," Jiang said.
"All countries and regions should joins hands to work for a new, fair and rational international political and economic order," he said.
Zeng Peiyan, chairman of the state central planning commission, said China will play a major role in reviving the regional and global economic slowdown by opening its markets to increased foreign investment and trade.
"China will further open its domestic markets, both in terms of geography and industries and will gradually open its service industries," he said.
More than 2,000 business leaders are at the three-day session, which will cover a wide range of issues including globalization to corporate responsibility.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, General Motors head John Smith and Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, now chairman of Citigroup's executive board, are also among the list of distinguished business leaders attending the forum.
The chiefs of FedEx Corp., Japan's Toshiba Corp., Applied Materials Inc, and Goldman Sachs will also participate in the roundtable discussions.
"There is a serious need to discuss solutions to the global slowdown," said a senior executive with Goldman Sachs, who will attend the meetings. "Now, more than ever, we need to work on ways to stop the economic meltdown."
APEC business leaders could help cushion the global downturn by shoring up fragile business and consumer confidence, the executive noted.
Speaking with reporters at the end of two days of ministerial talks, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said President Bush, who arrived under tight security in Shanghai on Thursday, was planning to discuss a number of economic issues, specifically trade liberalization in the region.
"One of the major reasons President Bush decided to come to Shanghai was to make clear to his fellow leaders his commitment to keep the U.S. economy moving forward domestically, and in its relation to the international system in terms of trade," Zoellick said.
Ministers on Wednesday released a draft of a statement, which calls for the loosening of regional fiscal and monetary policies to boost the global economy.
"The recent terrorist attacks on the United States risk undermining some industries as well as consumer confidence," the statement said.
"Since the end of last year, the slowdown in the United States, Japan and Europe has dampened the prospect of global and regional economy, with some members in the region affected considerably by the declining global demand," the statement said.
The statement also called on APEC nations to affirm their confidence in the medium- and long-term prospects of growth in the Pacific Rim and agreed to strengthen cooperation to tackle short-term economic difficulties.
Meanwhile, APEC foreign and trade ministers wrapped up two days of talks on Thursday, endorsing a new round of global trade talks -- in the Gulf state of Qatar next month -- which have been stalled for the past two years.
APEC leaders, who will meet over the weekend, are expected to endorse the Bogor Goals, which are part of an agreement reached during a 1994 summit in Indonesia, aiming to increase free trade and investment in the region over the next 10 to 20 years.
The APEC summit comes at a time when Asian economies are suffering in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and a worldwide technology slump. Critics of APEC say the grouping lacks the consensus to push forward any concrete economic reforms in the region.
A report released Wednesday by the World Bank said the terrorist attacks will hurt more-impoverished nations in East Asia by stalling the region's recovery from its current economic slowdown. The attacks have pushed the regions economic recovery back by at least nine months, the report said.
"This recovery is at a much slower rate compared to the trend in the region before the 1997 crisis," the report stated.
