U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit Sunday.
The two presidents discussed the nuclear arms reduction treaty, the upcoming NATO summit and other topics.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group is meeting in Japan after widespread criticism of the G20’s watered-down commitments in Seoul.
Once again the US and China, still fussing over who is doing more to damage international trade, are key to talks on policies to ensure balanced growth.
US President Barack has travelled to more countries in his first year in office than any of his predecessors and now, will undertake a nine-day tour of Asia.
Since taking office, he has made seven foreign trips and visited 16 countries, three of them twice.
The Asia trip will take him to Japan, Singapore, China and South [...]
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Asia-Pacific nations need “market-oriented” currencies that are in line with their economic fundamentals to encourage new sources of growth.
Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, which make up more than half of the world’s gross domestic product, must focus on strategies to boost private demand as policy-makers start unwinding stimulus measures, Geithner and the finance ministers of Indonesia and Singapore wrote in a Wall Street Journal column distributed by the US Treasury today.
Leaders and finance ministers of 21 Apec economies, including the United States, Japan and China, will keep stimulus policies until a lasting economic recovery is seen, draft statements from the grouping seen by Thomson Reuters today said.
“Economic recovery is not yet on a solid footing,” said a draft statement by the group’s leaders, dated Oct. 31 and expected to be delivered at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Singapore later this month.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner travels to Singapore to attend a meeting of finance ministers who are members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for one day next month.
Geithner will meet fellow finance ministers on Nov 12 for talks on issues related to the global economic crisis, capital market developments and other issues.
US Senator Richard Lugar said he plans to introduce legislation aimed at negotiating a free-trade agreement with the Association of South East Asian Nations.
Trade restrictions with Myanmar, an Asean member, should not hinder the US from pursuing a trade deal with the rest of the regional group, the Indiana Republican said in an Oct. 9 statement on his website.
The US signed a trade and investment framework with Asean in August 2006, aimed at boosting economic ties with the region and possibly leading to a free-trade deal.
“China, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have already finalized FTAs with Asean and are sharpening a competitive edge over the US in Southeast Asia,” Lugar said. “The United States should proceed to develop a comprehensive strategy toward engaging ASEAN in serious FTA discussions.”
President Barack Obama may meet Asean leaders at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore in November, Lugar said.
Asean includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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