High hopes for APEC

When leaders from the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meet this weekend in Hawaii, it is expected that they will come up with concrete measures to facilitate closer economic cooperation, so that the region can contribute still more to the global economy.

The Hawaii meeting, the 19th for the leaders of the APEC economies, comes at a time when the world is facing the risk of a double-dip recession and the European debt crisis is still a significant threat.

Even the most cynical economists will agree that the depth and width of economic cooperation in Asia-Pacific will have a direct impact on the speed and extent of world economic development.