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Leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Co-operation (Apec) forum have pledged to move towards creating a regional free trade area.
The agreement was announced at the end of a two-day summit in Yokohama, Japan.
The move would link the world's three biggest economies - the United States, Japan and China.
However, deep differences remain - chiefly between the US and China - over trade imbalances and currency distortions.
A statement concluding the Yokohama summit said "trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation [would] continue to be Apec's core objective".
It added that now was the time to translate the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) "from an aspirational to a more concrete vision".
However Apec leaders gave few details of how this pledge would be achieved, the BBC's Roland Buerk in Yokohama reports.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Co-operation (Apec) forum have pledged to move towards creating a regional free trade area.
The agreement was announced at the end of a two-day summit in Yokohama, Japan.
The move would link the world's three biggest economies - the United States, Japan and China.
However, deep differences remain - chiefly between the US and China - over trade imbalances and currency distortions.
A statement concluding the Yokohama summit said "trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation [would] continue to be Apec's core objective".
It added that now was the time to translate the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) "from an aspirational to a more concrete vision".
However Apec leaders gave few details of how this pledge would be achieved, the BBC's Roland Buerk in Yokohama reports.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.