The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Lima

Top officials from across the Pacific rim were set to open talks here Wednesday on the global economic crisis and to issue a joint appeal against protectionism.

Peru, where Maoist guerrillas have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, was on its highest state of alert for the summit, which is the last scheduled foreign trip for unpopular US President George W. Bush before he steps down.

Ministers of trade and foreign affairs from 21 countries including China, Japan, Russia and the United States will hold two days of talks to lay the groundwork for the leaders' summit on Saturday and Sunday.

An official of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum drafting the leaders' statement said they would defend free trade despite the sharp slowdown in the global economy.

"Everyone has been speaking with the same voice saying we need to keep markets open," said Elizabeth Chelliah, chair of a committee drafting the statement.

"We have to keep the door open to foreigners. You can't close the door," she told reporters.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia said that APEC, which accounts for 60 percent of the world's gross domestic product, also had more small private businesses than other parts of the world.

"It's thanks to this that the region is more active," Garcia told Asia-Pacific business leaders . "APEC is the greatest anti-crisis tool in the world."

Some 39,000 police were deployed in Lima and another 60,000 officers were on full alert across the rest of the country, which is still haunted by a bloody Maoist insurrection in the 1980s and 1990s.

Remnants of the Shining Path rebels on Saturday shot dead three police officers and injured another one in southeastern Peru.

The far-left movement was blamed for a car bomb outside the US Embassy in Lima in 2002 shortly before another visit by Bush, killing nine people.

Police on Sunday also arrested a Peruvian man hauling 36 grenades in central Lima. They were investigating his motives.

The APEC leaders will meet in one of Lima's most tightly guarded places-the sprawling headquarters of the army, which has been reinforced with steel railings.