Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this weekend will push for Asia Pacific leaders to extend the mandate on global economic reform set in train by G20 nations.
Fresh from the G20 meeting in Washington DC a week ago, Mr Rudd is eager for regional government heads to pick up the baton on worldwide economic and financial market reform when they meet for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in Lima.
Nine G20 leaders are among the 21 regional heads at APEC and one of their key ambitions will be to add momentum to efforts to unblock the Doha round of world trade talks.
"Our challenge in the next 36 hours is to make sure that the clear-cut commitments to the core sets of agreements in Washington are reaffirmed by the major economies in the Asia Pacific region," Mr Rudd told reporters.
"This is an opportunity to extend the G20 mandate to a wider net of nations in terms of the actions that need to be taken on stabilising financial markets ... adding to economic growth through appropriate fiscal and monetary policy stimulus and ... a clear-cut commitment to doing everything humanly possible to get a decent outcome on Doha.
"In the critical month ahead, we have to work even more closely to make Doha a success (as) that will be a huge shot in the arm to the global economy and to confidence, if we get it right."
The two-day APEC summit will give Mr Rudd a chance to canvas regional opinion on his proposal for an Asia Pacific Community by 2020.
Special envoy Dick Woolcott, who has been touring the region in recent months, delivered an interim report to the prime minister before he left Australia.
Mr Woolcott reportedly was left with an impression that many countries would be more comfortable building on existing regional architecture, such as ASEAN or the East Asia Summit, rather than creating a new organisation.
"We're up for a long-term discussion ... and I fully anticipate there'll be points of agreement and points of disagreement," Mr Rudd said.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Rudd addressed an audience of chief executives, where he promoted the need for all nations - developed and developing - to work together on climate change, warning to do otherwise could have catastrophic consequences.
"Action by all major emitters is required to avert dangerous impacts of climate change," Mr Rudd said.
"Even if developed countries reduce their emissions to zero, current trends in developing countries could see greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rise to 650 parts per million by 2050, and further after that.
"As a result, global average temperatures would likely rise more than three degrees above pre-industrial levels. This change would bring high risks of adverse and potentially massive consequences for the global environment and the global economy."
On Saturday, Mr Rudd will join other leaders for the start of the summit but not before visiting a women's project on the outskirts of Lima run by three Australian Sisters of Mercy originally from Sydney.
Australia and Indonesia are also expected to unveil a joint strategy to help the region better cope with emergencies such as natural disasters.
