The biggest achievement of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) over the past 20 years was that it had grouped nations and regions with different interests and offered a platform to exchange views, a Russian scholar told Xinhua on Monday.
Yakov Berger, a senior researcher at the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, said given the current international and regional situations, the upcoming APEC summit slated for Nov. 14-15 in Singapore would focus on measures to ease the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
"This would be a key issue not only for the Asia-Pacific region, but also for the entire international community," he said.
Berger also said that countering trade protectionism was also an "important task" while dealing with crisis.
Although consensus has been reached on fighting protectionism during the summit of Group of 20, he said, the issue "is hard to solve and is
facing huge difficulties."
Some recent incidents indicated that protectionism had been "continuously gaining momentum" in certain regions and countries, he said.
Berger said he believed China would be the first to walk out of the crisis, since its growth of the gross domestic product in 2009 was expected
to reach or surpass the set goal of 8 percent.
During the crisis, China has further consolidated its status among APEC and the world, he said, adding that the Chinese currency yuan had also reinforced its influence in the global financial system.
"Though China is no savior to the global economy, its stable development will contribute significantly to the world," he added.
The Russian expert noted that currently Russia was speeding up its preparations for the 2012 APEC Vladivostok summit, as it "intends to play its own role in the organization."
China and Russia inked a series of economic and trade agreements when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Beijing last month.
These agreements could reflect Moscow's willingness to continuously enhance cooperation with China and other APEC member states, he said.
APEC has 21 member economies: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, China's Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.