Lima  - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a staunch, unqualified defence of free trace Saturday in Lima, as he adressed business leaders ahead of the annual Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"Now is a time to open doors, not to erect walls," Harper said.

Lima  - US President George W Bush said Saturday in Lima that the governments of industrialized nations "have to keep their promises to the developing world," even in time of crisis.

Speaking to business leaders ahead of the 16th annual Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru, Bush - set to leave the White House in January after eight years in office - noted that the benefits of free trade "are beyond doubt."

Lima  - US President George W Bush said Saturday in Lima that the governments of industrialized nations "have to keep their promises to the developing world," even in time of crisis.

Speaking to business leaders ahead of the 16th annual Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Peru, Bush - set to leave the White House in January after eight years in office - noted that the benefits of free trade "are beyond doubt."

"We agree to keep our markets open and firmly reject protectionism," he said.

Bush made a strong call to conclude the Doha Round of talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO), which are currently stalling over disagreements on agricultural subsidies.

Berlin - Germany, the first of the G7 powers to declare an official recession, can expect more bad news on the economic front in 2009, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview released Saturday.

"We have to be prepared for the fact that the coming year, at least in the first few months, will be a year of bad news," she told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

She said the current business climate made it much more difficult to predict how the economies of Germany, its partners in Europe and the world at large would develop.

Hong Kong  - Half of Hong Kong businesses expect the city's recession to drag on for at least two years, according to a survey Saturday.

Ninety per cent of businessmen and businesswomen said they believed the recession would last through 2009 while half said they expected it to continue through 2010 and beyond.

Andrew Brandler, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce which conducted the survey among its members, called on the government to help businesses in the city survive the downturn.

Lima  - The leaders of several emerging economies on Friday issued a message of cautious hope amid the gloom of the widening global economic crisis, by stating that new opportunities are arising even though the financial world is struggling.

In comments to the CEO summit that preceded this weekend's annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Peruvian President Alan Garcia was particularly graphic: "I claim that the world is not sick but is rather suffering from growing pains."