(6 Sep 2012) Preparations are underway for Saturday's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) which is being held in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
Russia has spent 20 (b) billion US dollars preparing for the summit in its neglected Pacific port with the aim of being a bigger player on Asian markets.
It's a move which has been welcomed by Asian-Pacific countries.
"There is the need to sit down and look into all possibilities and what needs to be done for the economy especially in the Asia Pacific growth area, and I think most of the countries are looking towards there," said Malaysian Foreign Minister, Hanifah Aman.
"And we must increase more trade and protectionism must be avoided and therefore allow access to markets in the respective countries," he added.
Trade ministers from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries gathered in Vladivostok on Thursday to discuss freer trade in the region.
TPP countries consist of Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.
The TPP ministers reviewed progress made over thirteen rounds of negotiations and instructed negotiators to redouble their efforts in preparation for the fourteenth round of negotiations which are due to be held in Leesburg, Virginia in September.
The ministers also agreed to produce a report updating leaders from the nine TPP countries on progress made during negotiations since they met in Honolulu last November.
The report will be provided to TPP Leaders over the weekend's summit.
In the meantime, the APEC venue, which is located in the remote Russky Islands, is completely closed to the public.
Russia has supplied shuttle buses for people to move around the enormous university campus which will become an APEC venue later this week.
Delegates and media will stay in university dormitories serviced by professional hotel workers sent from overseas.
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