SHANGHAI, Oct 15: Senior Asia-Pacific officials met on Monday in China’s commercial capital to put the finishing touches to their economic agenda, leaving aside the thornier issue of global terrorism for ministers and leaders.

The officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were due to meet for two days amid tight security in the largest international gathering since the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

However, officials said the formal deliberations were shortened to one day because agreement had already been achieved on most issues ahead of ministerial talks from Wednesday and a leaders’ summit at the weekend.

An informal meeting late Sunday had speeded the progress of the talks which covered issues including agriculture, human resources and strengthening market regulation, delegates said.

We discussed a lot of economic issues including WTO (World Trade Organization, said a Japanese foreign ministry official.

We did not discuss terrorism today but we will talk about it at an informal session tomorrow, he said. Terrorism will be included in the final (leaders’) communique.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan will invite his counterparts to discuss the anti-terrorism fight over a working breakfast on Thursday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters.

But finding a consensus on how to word an anti-terrorism declaration in the wake of the US military campaign in Afghanistan may prove difficult when foreign and trade ministers of the 21 economies convene.

We’ll all have to talk it over, how to express our common views, Zhu said.

The governments of several Muslim-majority countries — including APEC members Malaysia and Indonesia — have expressed unease over the US retaliation against Afghanistan’s Taliban regime.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who leads the world’s most populous Muslim country, criticised the US-British air raids publicly for the first time Sunday.

Violence should not always be responded to with violence, she said in a speech at a mosque.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has already called for the United States to stop its military strikes against Afghanistan.

With fragile global growth slipping down another gear in the wake of the terrorist attacks, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya asserted APEC would send a “strong message” on economic matters.

We want to see more economic growth in this region and we want other regions to believe that the Asia-Pacific region is still hopeful and confident in its economic prospects, said Wang, who chaired the senior officials’ meeting.

Given its free-trade focus, the forum will attempt to breathe life into attempts to get a new round of trade liberalisation talks off the ground at next month’s WTO meeting scheduled in Qatar.

The 21 APEC economies — including Russia, Japan and South Korea — have pledged to inaugurate a free-trade area in 2010 for developed members and 10 years later for developing ones.

Following the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Chinese are taking no half measures on security in Shanghai as they play host to their biggest gathering of world leaders since the 1949 communist revolution.

Around 10,000 police and security personnel have been deployed and central Shanghai will be virtually shut down while the ministers and leaders are in town.—AFP