The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Washington

President George W. Bush, struggling to get ahead of a global financial crisis, hopes to win more converts for an action plan designed to demonstrate that governments have the will and the means to halt the turmoil.

Embarking Friday on what could be his final overseas trip as president, Bush was headed to a summit of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.

Bush and eight of the other leaders at the Lima meetings were also in Washington last weekend when the Group of 20, consisting of the world's richest countries and emerging powers such as China, Russia and Brazil, adopted a package of measures aimed at keeping the current crisis from pushing the global economy into a deep and prolonged recession.

But so far, investors have not been assured. Wall Street fell on Thursday to its lowest point since the current crisis hit more than a year ago. The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 400 points for a second straight day, to close at to 7,552, the lowest level in more than five years, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell below lows established six years ago, to 752.

But the White House insists that it is pursuing the right course and believes that enlisting more countries' endorsement of the G-20 action plan will eventually work at restoring market stability.

Before APEC leaders' discussions get under way on Saturday, Bush will hold a series of one-on-one talks with other countries starting with a meeting Friday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

In addition to the financial crisis, Bush was scheduled to talk to Hu about international efforts to persuade North Korea to recommit to an agreement that offers it diplomatic and economic concessions in exchange for nuclear disarmament, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at a pretrip briefing.

Bush was also taking up that issue on Saturday when he meets with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, Johndroe said.

Bush also was to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev before he departs Sunday, but perhaps emphasizing the frosty relations between the two countries at the moment, the exact time for those discussions remained up in the air.

Both Hu and Medvedev attended the G-20 talks last weekend in Washington and Bush was seeking their support in gaining endorsement of the action plan at the APEC meetings.

With both leaders, Bush will discuss the progress being made on the financial crisis action plan and various foreign policy issues.

With Hu, Bush will discuss international efforts to persuade North Korea to recommit to an agreement that offers it diplomatic and economic concessions in exchange for nuclear disarmament, Johndroe said. That issue also will come up in Bush's talks with the leaders of Japan and South Korea.

With Medvedev, tensions over Georgia and U.S. plans to establish missile interceptors in Eastern Europe will be on the agenda, Johndroe said.

While White House aides said that the other leaders were likely to take note in some way that their discussions were marking Bush's last international summit, they stressed that the president was not viewing the trip as some sort of farewell tour but an opportunity to advance his goals in the closing days of his presidency.

"The president has long advocated a core number of principles and policies that have attracted broad support in the global community," said Daniel Price, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. "They include the power of free trade and free markets to better the lives of people and create economic opportunity."