Singapore, Nov 11 (DPA) Ministers of the Asia-Pacific economies Wednesday warned that the global economic crisis was not yet over, saying the situation was still fragile despite the current upturn.
“The consensus is that this (crisis) is by no means over,” said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo after hosting a meeting with foreign and trade ministers at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

“The upturn that we now have is a respite,” Yeo said.

“The situation is still fragile, and we should still address the root causes of the problem,” he added.

Yeo said that there was now increasing protectionism, posing a danger to the global economy.

“It is a slippery slope, and if we are not careful, before we know it, all of us will be in a much more dire situation,” he warned.

The annual APEC summit of the 21 Pacific Rim economies kicked off at the weekend and is set to culminate when their leaders, including US President Barack Obama, hold their meeting Saturday and Sunday.

Measures to overcome the economic crisis are at the top of the summit agenda. The APEC leaders and ministers were expected to discuss an exit strategy for government stimulus packages introduced to battle the recession.

APEC is home to more than 2.7 billion people and represents about 54 percent of the global gross domestic product and 44 percent of world trade.

The forum consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Peru, Russia, the United States and Vietnam.