YOKOHAMA — Leaders from the 21 Pacific Rim economies kicked off a two-day meeting here Saturday to push free trade as a precursor to regional economic integration sometime in the next decade.
In the course of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit this year, member economies have been searching for a viable road map for establishing the Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific.
As the current APEC chair, Japan hopes to hammer out a joint statement this weekend setting 2020 as the target year for the FTAAP pact.