Some 50 business leaders from the Asia-Pacific region will meet next month in Tokyo to discuss trade and investment issues, Japanese business leaders said Tuesday.

Delegates of the APEC Business Advisory Council will also discuss how to cope with severe acute respiratory syndrome and the aftermath of the conflict in Iraq, they said.

The ABAC, a private-sector advisory panel to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, will meet from May 13 to 16 to draw up proposals on business-related issues for the June 2-3 APEC trade ministers meeting in Khon Kaen, Thailand, they said.

The proposals are expected to include development of a common bond market in East Asia, a reduction in trade costs in the pan-Pacific region and the introduction of information technology through regional small and midsize companies, according to the delegates.

The delegates are also expected to discuss ways to ensure that China protects intellectual property rights and recommendations to the ongoing agricultural trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization.

Tasuku Takagaki, senior adviser to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said discussions at the Tokyo gathering will serve as the basis for the ABAC's formal proposals on trade, investment and other issues to the leaders of the APEC's 21 economies at an October meeting in Bangkok.

Takagaki represents Japan in the ABAC, along with Nobuhiko Kawamoto, director and adviser at Honda Motor Co., and Noriyuki Yonemura, senior vice president at Fuji Xerox Co.

"In my group, we would like to study how East Asia will develop capital markets to help strengthen their banking systems," Takagaki, who cochairs the ABAC's Financial Stability Working Group, told a news conference. "Development of an Asian bond market is one good example."

APEC economies have a total population of more than 2.5 billion and a combined gross domestic product of $19 trillion, accounting for 47 percent of world trade.