SYDNEY - Threats of terrorism and violent protests overshadowed an agenda dedicated to climate change and trade as meetings kicked off Sunday ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in "Fortress Sydney."
A massive steel and concrete wall arose around key sections of Australia's largest city as senior officials put the final touches to preparations for the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next weekend.
The wall, which snakes through Sydney's tourist centre and around harbourfront conference venues, is designed to keep protesters at bay and block potential car or truck bombings.
The summit brings together several of the world's most powerful leaders, including US President George W. Bush, China's Hu Jintao and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Host Prime Minister John Howard has said the threat of climate change is high on the agenda, along with efforts to revive global trade talks, but acknowledged Sunday that security and terrorism would be discussed in bilateral meetings.
Howard, who is a strong supporter of the US-led campaign in Iraq, told a news conference this would be the case particularly in his talks with Bush.
The US leader will leave the summit a day early to return to Washington in time for long anticipated reports to Congress on progress in Iraq by the top US general there, David Petraeus, and the ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker.
Australia, the US and Japan will hold their first trilateral summit on the sidelines of the APEC talks, when Bush and Howard meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Saturday morning breakfast meeting is expected to focus on security issues and include discussion on North Korea's nuclear disarmament and China's military build-up.
Howard defended the unprecedented level of security in Sydney, which has been dubbed "Fortress Sydney" by angry citizens and rights groups, saying: "If people didn't threaten violence they wouldn't be necessary.
"But unfortunately it's part of life whenever you have an international meeting anywhere in the world.
"You either don't have them, which is handing the streets and a victory in public affairs to people who preach violence, or you have these sort of security arrangements."
On climate change, Howard played down expectations of what the APEC summit would produce, ruling out agreement on binding targets for reductions in the emission of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Howard and Bush are the only two world leaders who have refused to ratify the main international treaty to fight climate change, the Kyoto Protocol.
The Australian prime minister said he wanted to reach a framework agreement on a post-Kyoto approach based on the fact that each economy had different needs.
"We do not believe that continuing down the Kyoto path is going to provide a solution to the problem. We think that would be a recipe for a partial but ultimately ineffective response to a growing problem," he said.
On trade, the summit is expected to use APEC's clout to try to revive the World Trade Organisation's Doha Round, which is bogged down amid disagreement on farm subsidies.
The Asia-Pacific leaders are also likely to give a nudge to plans for a vast trans-Pacific free-trade zone stretching from China to Chile, although it remains a distant goal.
A draft document to be submitted at the summit recommends that preparatory research be carried out on how to turn the vision into reality.
The forum's economies account for 56 percent of the world's GDP and cover 41 percent of the world's population.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
09/02/2007 05:02 GMT