PUCON, Chile, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The ministerial meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum opened here Friday to focus on trade liberalization.

    Trade ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies, commanding nearly half of world trade, gather in Pucon, a resort town in the mountains 700 km south of the Chilean capital of Santiago, to move forward with new talks of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is scheduled for July in Geneva.

    Among those attending the meeting are WTO Director Supachai Panitchpakdi, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, and ChineseCommerce Minister Bo Xilai.

    At the opening ceremony, Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear, also chairman of the current meeting, expounded APEC's priorities for this year, such as conducting internal institutional reforms, seeking accords on security and on a more liberalized trade between the members of the bloc.

    APEC is a trans-Pacific consultation association founded in 1989 to facilitate trade, investment and economic cooperation among Asia-Pacific economies that represent 47 percent of global trade and 2.5 billion people of the world population. Enditem