One of goals of Russia's participation in APEC summit is to increase its influence in Asia-Pacific region

RF President Vladimir Putin has set several goals for his participation in the work of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok.

A source in the Kremlin told RIA Novosti correspondent on the eve of the summit that one of the goals is the strengthening of Russia's influence in the region, including through Russia's direct participation in the integration processes in this part of the globe.

According to the Kremlin source, Russia plans "to present various achievements in different spheres, secure the support of APEC members for several projects and start a dialogue on non-ferrous metals." Russia has come up with this initiative as a continuation of the idea of "segment" discussion of urgent problems of the world trade proposed during the previous APEC summit.

In addition, Moscow hopes to secure the support of the participants of the forum on the issue of Russia's accession to the WTO on acceptable conditions.

The major theme of the current APEC summit is "The world of diversity: partnership for the sake of the future." In the context of the summit, the participants will discuss cooperation between APEC and regional business community in the interests of the region, further liberalization of trade and investment activity, possible creation of a regional bonds market and new financial mechanisms, development of corporate management, influence of trade security measures on business activity, support of small and medium-size businesses, problems in the agricultural sector, and the role of APEC in the solution of all above-mentioned issues.

The Kremlin source also mentioned the suggestion made by the United States and its allies that APEC should become more of a political structure, which wouldn't focus exclusively on the solution of economic problems. "The United States is above all concerned about security issues," he said. In his opinion, "this suggestion is quite normal," but most of the APEC countries consider it with reservation. "It's quite normal," the source in the Kremlin believes. He said that the proposals of the possible reform of APEC might be discussed during the next APEC summit in Chile in 2004.