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| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-09-06 16:17 |
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Finance ministers from the Pacific Rim gathering in Vietnam this week are scheduled to discuss reducing global imbalances and steps to combat the financing of weapons of mass destruction, a draft statement showed.
The ministers and lower-level officials from the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will be shaping the agenda for the leaders summit in Hanoi in November.
Reviving stalled World Trade Organization talks and financial sector reform were also on the agenda this week, according to a copy of the draft. The statement forms a basis for discussions and will be revised as the talks progress.
Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha, in opening a round of preliminary meetings yesterday before finance ministers meet tomorrow and Friday, urged delegates to adopt measures with "straightforwardness and goodwill," noting that meetings had an "ambitious agenda."
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is scheduled to arrive later this week for talks. Seven weeks into his new role, the former Goldman Sachs chief executive is making his first trip abroad.
It was not immediately clear if Paulson intends to meet Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing.
During talks this week, ministers and officials will focus on "reducing global imbalances while maintaining growth requires fiscal sustainability, price and exchange rate flexibility," the draft statement read.
Among the measures to achieve this include "greater national savings in the United States, fiscal consolidation in Japan ... and greater exchange rate flexibility for some economies as appropriate in emerging Asia," it said.
Members will also discuss ways the international community can halt financing of weapons of mass destruction.
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