Malaysia, dismayed that the "war on terror" has hijacked the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum, accused the United States and Australia of straying too far from trade and economics.

"Some Apec developed economies are pushing to expand the Apec agenda beyond its current economic mandate to include the twin agenda on security issues like proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the elimination of terrorist groups," Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said.

She was speaking at the end of a two-day Apec ministerial meeting, dominated by discussions on the war on terror and nuclear proliferation.

Rafidah did not single out any country but US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had led discussions on security at the meeting in the Chilean capital.

They raised the prolonged nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula, the worrying spread of weapons of mass destruction and the broad war on terror following the deadly al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.

The ministers, in their joint statement Thursday at the end of the talks, pledged to beef up an anti-terror campaign, crack down on availability of shoulder-fired missiles and interrupt the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Ministers pledged to "eliminate the danger of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery" and set up guidelines to control surface-to-air missiles.

Strong degree of unanimity

Rafidah, the longest-serving trade minister in the Apec forum, stressed that as Apec was a trade and investment forum with its decisions not binding on member economies, the move to include sensitive security issues could complicate matters.

"Malaysia is concerned particularly when such issues with binding commitments and performance assessments are aggressively pushed for adoption without sufficient consultation and clarification on the impact and consequences particularly on developing economies," she said.

The added focus on terrorism and security was stoutly defended by Downer and by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

Downer said it was intended to make sure the Apec region was "well equipped to deal" with the growing terrorism and nuclear proliferation threat, including North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

"Not surprisingly, there was a strong degree of unanimity," he said of the ministerial discussions.

Zoellick said greater attention on security was crucial to facilitate trade flows.

Core competencies

But Rafidah insisted that Apec "needs to reach back on its core competencies of trade facilitation, reducing the cost of doing business and building the capacity of developing economies to participate more competitively in the global market.

"Malaysia is concerned that Apec is concentrating on an increasingly broad portfolio beyond its original economic and trade mandate," she said.

Apec leaders, including US President George W Bush, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Hu Jintao, will take up the security-dominated ministerial statement at the tightly guarded summit here this weekend.

Since the Sept 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, terrorism has penetrated deeper into the debate of Apec, which formerly concentrated on the economy and trade.