Asia-Pacific leaders condemn war, renew calls for open trade

BANGKOK (AP) — Leaders from around the Asia-Pacific were wrapping up a summit in Bangkok, Thailand, with talks Saturday on how to steer the region’s economies through the turmoil of war, pandemics and other threats to peace and stability.

The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum 's long-term mission is promoting closer economic ties, but its summits often are sidetracked by other more urgent issues.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha opened Saturday's meeting by urging the leaders to push ahead with APEC's agenda of promoting free trade in the Pacific region.

“We have to give priority to turning this plan into action," Prayuth said.

On Friday, APEC ministers issued a statement condemning Moscow's war on Ukraine and calling for it to fully withdraw. But it acknowledged differences of opinions among those present, which included Andrei Belousov, Russia's first deputy prime minister.

The meetings Saturday wrap up a flurry of leaders’ meetings in Southeast Asian countries this week. Much of the activity at such summits occurs on the sidelines and in the interludes before and after meetings begin.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea met separately Friday to voice concerns about North Korea's launch earlier in the day of an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

The APEC meetings Saturday returned to economic concerns.

“The world has been changed by events none of us saw forthcoming," Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, told the leaders gathered in Bangkok’s heavily fortified conference center.

Namely, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, she said.

The summits over the past week have given leaders a...