Leaders of Asia, Americas face pressure on economy at weekend summit

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Leaders of Asia and the Americas faced mounting pressure Friday to stop the spread of the financial crisis and resuscitate moribund free-trade talks as they flew into Lima for a weekend summit. At the top of the agenda for the 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum was pushing forward a declaration drafted at the Group of 20 summit last weekend in Washington and working to prevent new barriers to trade. "Countries should enhance confidence ... and take prompt and effective measures, including all necessary fiscal and monetary means to stop the spread of the financial crisis," Chinese President Hu Jintao told a meeting of CEOs on Friday.