Over 1,100 representatives from leading multi-national corporations of the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Hanoi today, kicking off the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum's CEO Summit.

The summit is considered the biggest event of the business community of the region in 2006.

The event, annually organized along with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting since 1996, has become an important forum for leaders, businessmen, policy makers and researchers to share experiences and propose suggestions and solutions for strengthening economic cooperation within the region and between the APEC member economies with the rest of the world.

Addressing the opening session, Vu Tien Loc, chairman of Vietnam chamber of commerce and industry, who chairs the CEO summit, said this year's meeting is significant because it takes place at a time when new challenges are facing APEC's vision of an economic community of free and open trade and investment.

Loc cited the suspension of Doha round of WTO negotiations at the global stage and lack of uniformity of regional, sub-regional and bilateral trade arrangements within Asia-Pacific, as well as the challenges of terrorism, pandemics, natural disasters and technological inequality which threaten the sustainability of regional prosperity.

"Within this context, the APEC CEO Summit, which has brought together over 1,000 business leaders and 12 APEC leaders, presents a timely opportunity for discussion on the nature of these challenges and the responses necessary to deal with these challenges," he said.

He encouraged the delegates to actively participate in the discussions on the common challenges and responses, expressing hope that they will together take steps toward the theme of this year's summit, "Towards One Community: Creating New Opportunities for Shared Development."

Presidents and prime ministers of the APEC economies who have been invited to attend the event on the first day and deliver speeches to the business executives include Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Founded in 1989, APEC is a major regional forum acting as the primary regional vehicle for promoting open trade and practical economic and technical cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

It represents the most economically dynamic region in the world, with its 21 member economies accounting for more than one third of the world's population, approximately 60 percent of world GDP, about 47 percent of world trade.