Political leaders and business representatives from the 21 member countries that comprise the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathered in Lima recently for a meeting that wrapped up on November 23 with a rare degree of convergence on a handful of issues that have scarcely been touched at previous meetings of a similar nature. Several presidents were present, including China's Hu Jintao, Mexico's Felipe Calderón, South Korea's Lee Myung-Bak and US president George W. Bush, who all called for similar actions such as the importance of not responding to the global financial crisis with protectionism, of boosting public expense and of investing in infrastructure.
