The leaders of the 18 APEC Pacific Rim economies closed ranks at their summit here to send a message that financial stability will return to the troubled region and that economic growth will continue. As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) begins negotiations on a rescue package with South Korea, Japan has strongly denied that it might also become a candidate for a financial bail-out following the crash of Tokyo's oldest brokerage, Yamaichi Securities, after hiding losses of US$2.1 billion. "We have to draw the line between economic problems in Asia and problems in Japan," the Prime Minister of Japan, Ryutaro Hashimoto, said here.

The summit communique endorsed a plan to give the International Monetary Fund the leading role in dealing with financial crises but with the APEC countries also providing additional funds. The leaders also called for stricter surveillance of the member economies. This is seen as a tactful reference to the lax banking controls which have helped to trigger off a series of damaging currency devaluations in the south-east Asian economies.

Referring to the trade liberalisation package agreed here over last weekend, the communique said that it along with prudent and transparent policies would assist in "reducing future market volatility".

The communique also called for the expansion of the World Trade Organisation, a reference to China's application which up to now has been blocked by the United States on the grounds that the Chinese market is not sufficiently open to imports. But the US now says that China has made a "new and important offer" to liberalise its market for imports.

The 18 leaders - all self-consciously wearing the bomber jackets and slacks provided by the Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, who chaired the summit - approved the communique while meeting in the Great Hall of British Columbia University overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The agreement followed a day of bilateral meetings at which differences emerged over the role of APEC in financial rescue operations, human rights and global warming targets. President Clinton raised the human rights issue in meetings with President Suharto of Indonesia and President Jiang Zemin of China as demonstrators marched in Vancouver streets denouncing both leaders.

The US has also been strongly pushing its view that developing countries will have to be part of any future international treaty to check global warming. The US is threatening not to sign such a treaty at a meeting in Kyoto, Japan, next month unless developing countries especially in Asia also accept curbs on pollutants.

President Clinton has also made it clear that the US regards Japan as playing a significant role in re-vitalising the APEC region. The meeting between Mr Clinton and Prime Minister Ryautoro Hashimoto concentrated on the Japanese economy, officials said later.

Mr Clinton "emphasised the importance of a resumption of growth in Japan as something that was crucial to pulling the other economies in Asia along". But he also told Mr Hasimoto that Japan should not boost exports as a way to revive its flagging economy but instead stimulate domestic demand.

Any increase in the US trade deficit with Japan, now at $40 billion, would cause "political problems". Mr Clinton also told Mr Hashimoto that he expected to see results by the time of the next so-called G-7 summit in Birmingham next June.

This is the first APEC summit which has had to deal with a serious financial crisis. Up to now the annual summits have dealt only with trade and have taken place against a backdrop of booming "tiger economies" in South-East Asia where continued growth was taken for granted. Now some of these countries are bitter at what they see as speculative attacks on their currencies from outside APEC.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mohamed Mahathir, told a meeting of business executives here that greedy currency traders with billions of dollars had managed to wipe out two decades of Asian economic growth in just two weeks. He said that "the free market allows them to do this" and that he would ask APEC to impose strict regulations on currency traders.

President Fidel Ramos of the Philippines told a Seattle newspaper just before the summit that the financial crisis in Asia had reached such proportions that the IMF money may no longer be sufficient to restore stability and confidence in the region. What was needed was a new fund and closer cooperation in APEC, he said.

But these discordant views were cloaked in the diplomatic language of the final communique.