High oil prices likely to dominate APEC summit

High oil prices likely to dominate APEC summit

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): High oil prices which could derail East Asia's economic recovery will be one of the main topics when Asia-Pacific leaders hold a summit in November, a top US official said Friday.

"We believe it will be treated in a responsible manner at the leaders' meeting," Lawrence Greenwood, US senior official for APEC, told reporters.

Leaders from the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, including President Bill Clinton, will hold their annual summit in Brunei in November.

Greenwood is in Malaysia for talks with trade officials before the APEC ministerial and leaders' meetings.

He said a three-day APEC senior officials' meeting in Brunei from September 21 would discuss alternative fuel sources to reduce the impact of rising oil prices.

Greenwood said matters such as speeding up work on alternative fuels such as gas would be discussed. Some analytical work on the impact of high oil prices may also be done, he said.

"The US continues to remain concerned (over high oil prices). APEC will continue to work on this issue to ensure it does not undermine the sustainability of the region's economic recovery," Greenwood said.

APEC finance ministers last Sunday appealed for oil producers to boost production to curb high prices. They fear inflation led by soaring oil prices could derail recovery.

On the same day the Organization of Oil Producing Countries vowed to boost production by 800,000 barrels a day, beginning in October.

Oil prices soared to a 10-year high last week to around 35 dollars a barrel.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.