AlHijjah 1, 1434, Oct 6, 2013, SPA -- Fighting protectionism and pushing through difficult reforms are critical to the global recovery as the world's biggest economies struggle with their own internal obstacles to growth, AP quoted Asia-Pacific leaders gathered for an annual summit as saying Sunday. With U.S. President Barack Obama bogged down in the domestic drama over the national budget and government shutdown, national leaders at the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were watching to see how the biggest economies fare. Obama canceled his trip to the APEC meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali because of the budget impasse. "Obviously we prefer a U.S. government which is working to one which is not," said Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. "It's a very big disappointment to us that President Obama is unable to visit." Lee pointed to the U.S. internal battles, Europe's lingering financial crisis, China's reform challenges and Japan's effort to emerge from more than two decades of stagnation as key risks to global growth. Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged the more than 1,200 business and political leaders in Bali to do more to counter the economic headwinds confronting developing countries by dismantling barriers to trade and investment.
