LIMA - ASIA Pacific leaders will issue a call this weekend to keep markets open to foreign trade despite the crisis rattling the global economy, an official drafting the statement said on Tuesday.

Officials from 21 countries including the United States, China and Japan were meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday to prepare the statement which their leaders will sign at a summit on Saturday and Sunday in Peru's capital Lima.

'Everyone has been speaking with the same voice saying we need to keep markets open,' said Ms Elizabeth Chelliah, chair of a committee of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum drafting the statement.

'We have to keep the door open to foreigners. You can't close the door,' she told reporters.

The Apec summit is the last scheduled foreign trip for US President George W. Bush, who on Saturday hosted an emergency summit on the financial crisis in Washington.

Mr Bush has staunchly defended the free-market system despite the global slowdown. Mr Bush's successor, Mr Barack Obama, has criticised some US free-trade deals, saying they hurt US workers.

Ms Chelliah said Apec leaders believed protectionism would have a 'negative domino effect' on the region.

'If you start closing the markets, then you stop buying stuff. If you stop buying stuff, then production will stop,' she said.

Apec specialists meeting in Lima were completing work on a report on how to synchronise the slew of free-trade agreements within the region.

They were hoping to avoid the so-called 'spaghetti bowl' effect, in which overlapping regulations present a nightmare for businesses operating across borders. -- AFP