Leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have begun two-days of meetings today in Thailand with efforts to revive the stalled World Trade Organization talks

Leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have begun two-days of meetings today in Thailand with efforts to revive the stalled World Trade Organization talks. But terrorism and security issues are drawing a great deal of attention - to the dismay of some delegates. Leaders of the 21-member APEC forum are studying a draft final communiqué identifying terrorism as a severe threat to stable economic growth. In the document, they pledge to take all essential actions to dismantle transnational terrorist groups - including greater sharing of intelligence, securing ports and blocking terror financing. However, some leaders have expressed concern that the focus on terror is drawing attention away from trade issues - particularly how to revive World Trade Organization talks which derailed last month in Mexico. At issue was the divide between rich and poor nations - particularly over protection for agricultural products. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says developing nations need some protection to compete with large, multinational corporations that dominate the global economy. New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark suggests the way to overcome the issue of free versus fair trade is to focus on points of agreement rather than points of dispute. APEC has no formal relationship with the WTO - charged with setting global trade rules. But APEC groups some of the biggest WTO members and accounts for more than half of the global economy.