PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea: This weekend, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other leaders of the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) member economies are convening here for their annual summit.
The meeting comes amid concerns over trade war, superpowers such as the US, China and Japan jostling for influence in the Pacific and the capacity of Apec, the world's largest regional economic group, to advance free trade and greater prosperity to the people of the region.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have opted to stay away this time. This has allowed Chinese President Xi Jinping to take centre stage.
Xi, Dr Mahathir, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other heads of government will focus on how to deliver more conclusive socio-economic progress in the Pacific Rim and beyond over two days from Saturday (November 17).
This will culminate with the 2018 Apec Economic Leaders' Meeting chaired by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter 'O Neill on Sunday. It is preceded by the Apec Concluding Senior Officials' Meeting and Apec Ministerial Meeting.
Dr Mahathir, accompanied by his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, are expected to arrive in the PNG capital on Friday (Nov 16) evening.
International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking and Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah are also attending the forum.
Dr Mahathir is also expected to have bilateral talks with some leaders.
Senior Apec officials said the forum was aiming to delve into issues such as regional economic integration and digital economy, among others.
Dr Alan Bollard, outgoing executive director of the Apec Secretariat based in Singapore, told Xinhua: "It's been a year of trade frictions and some different views on regional economic integration, so I'm expecting we'll have more discussions on whether or not Apec will be given a signal on a multilateral trading system, on how we will talk about a free trade area for Asia and Pacific, and on how we'll handle the new range of complicated issues around the digital economy."
The PNG government, meanwhile, hopes that the nation will emerge with trade agreements and a new standing on the world stage.
PNG is by far the weakest of the 21 Apec economies, with a per capita gross domestic product of just US$2,745 in 2015, according to the International Monetary Fund, and Port Moresby is consistently ranked one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
But PNG has vast swathes of timber, and huge mineral, oil and gas deposits.
Its population of eight million, who speak 800 distinct languages and spread out across some 600 islands, is almost twice that of New Zealand. This makes it the second largest Pacific nation.