At forum, Bush finds support on N. Korea, economy plan

Lima, Peru ? President George W. Bush snared fresh international support Saturday on the economy and North Korea, emerging from his final world gathering with modest wins and growing nostalgia about his turbulent tenure.

Dogged by a collapsing economy late in his presidency, Bush came away with the commitment he wanted from Asia’s Pacific nations: a pledge to keep trade flowing and shun protectionism.

And Bush got a boost as the six nations involved in ridding North Korea of its nuclear weaponry agreed to meet in China in December, perhaps to finally lock in a disarmament deal.

All the while, Bush displayed a new willingness to look back on his term and speak wistfully about it, the kind of reflection he previously had dismissed as premature or pointless.

Barring a surprise trip to Iraq or Afghanistan, Bush’s foreign travel as president is ending with this Pacific Rim economic summit in Peru.

“We’ve had our agreements, we’ve had our disagreements,” Bush said to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a rather succinct nod to a bilateral relationship that has certainly seen better days. “I’ve tried to work hard to make it a cordial relationship, though.”

Bush now returns to Washington to the same sober realities: an economy in tatters, feuds with Congress, and only two months left to do anything.

The 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC, rallied behind the economic crisis plan that Bush and other leaders forged last week in Washington. It already had the stamp of the world’s richest economies and emerging powers, including some APEC nations, and now Bush can tout that other Pacific Rim nations are united in the cause.

Most notably, the APEC leaders offered a strong statement in support of free trade. That was Bush’s primary appeal when he launched a defense of open markets earlier in the day.

Evoking one of his country’s darkest times, Bush said: “One of the enduring lessons of the Great Depression is that global protectionism is a path to global economic ruin.”

Bush went so far as to turn the depressing financial crisis into an upbeat opportunity, describing it as a chance for world unity and prosperity. He backed up that lofty idea not with any specifics but broad principles, promoting the power of open markets and free people.

“With confidence in our ideals, we can turn the challenge we face today to an opportunity — and lead the way toward a new era of prosperity for the Asia Pacific and beyond,” he said.

Leaders shy away from new proposals

Leaders who oversee half the world’s economy pledged Saturday to avoid protectionism but shied away from any new proposals on the financial crisis because of somebody who wasn’t there: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

The 21 leaders endorsed last weekend’s agreement by major world economies to resist domestic pressures to protect industries, while ensuring that small and medium-sized companies have enough credit to stay afloat.

“We strongly support the Washington Declaration and will refrain within the next 12 months from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services (and from) imposing new export restrictions,” leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum said in a joint declaration.

They also pledged to reach agreement next month on the outlines of a World Trade Organization pact that collapsed in July after seven years of negotiations. Concern over the global financial crisis injected new urgency into the so-called Doha round of trade talks.

The leaders called for greater APEC participation in the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders. Japan said last week it was ready to lend up to $100 billion to the IMF, but China has so far resisted entreaties to dig into its $1.9 trillion in reserves.

Delegates said, however, that there was little incentive to propose more concrete action without the support of Obama, who takes office in January and did not send representatives to Lima.