HONOLULU — A push to build a Pacific free-trade bloc gained ground Friday with Japan’s decision to join negotiations, as Asia-Pacific leaders converging on Hawaii for an annual summit mulled ways to prevent Europe’s crisis from derailing the global recovery.
The weekend meeting of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which unites leaders from Russia to Chile, seeks to create jobs and business through measures such as investment in infrastructure and reforms aimed at providing access to financing for the poor.
Such moves are gaining urgency, with the European Union warning of a possible “deep and prolonged recession” next year as the debt crisis that has engulfed Ireland, Portugal and Greece shows signs of spiraling out of control. A European recession would be felt sharply in the U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in opening a meeting of foreign and economic ministers that many forces outside the Pacific region will have an impact on it.
“Global trends and world events have given us a full and formidable agenda,” she said. “And the stakes are high for all of us.”
As host of the annual summit, the U.S. has focused on expanding trade, promoting green growth and deepening cooperation on regulation and standards to help dismantle barriers to trade and nurture faster growth.
