Leaders from the Pacific Rim have started filtering into Peru's capital, Lima, for their annual economic summit, which is expected to center around the global financial meltdown.
U.S. President George Bush will arrive Friday ahead of the two-day summit and will seek to build support for measures endorsed last week during a meeting of the world's 20 largest economies.
The APEC summit Saturday and Sunday comes on the heels of a gloomy report by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The non-profit says economies in the Asia-Pacific region will grow by only one-point-two percent next year, less than half the pace of 2007 and 2008. A number of bilateral discussions are scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the APEC summit, with Mr. Bush meeting with the heads of state from China, Japan and South Korea.
The White House says a meeting Friday between Mr. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao offers an opportunity to review U.S.-China relations ahead of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.