Trade leaders from 21 economies around the Pacific Rim met today to work on a statement that South Korea's trade minister hoped would be a strongly worded demand for progress in world trade talks.
The officials are in the Korean port city of Pusan to take part in a week-long series of meetings that culminates with a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit on Friday and Saturday.
Negotiators from the world's leading trade powers have not been able to achieve a breakthrough despite talks in London and Geneva last week, and trade officials have worked to scale down expectations since.
The European Union argues that it cannot make further concessions on agriculture without moves from others on manufactured goods and services.