US President George W Bush will discuss how to combat the deadly bird flu virus with Southeast Asian leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum summit in Busan, South Korea, the Malaysian prime minister said.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who met Bush ahead of the Apec summit, said the president flagged the issue for his meeting Friday with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

"Certainly this issue of avian flu is a very major issue and a very major problem that requires combined effort of countries to resolve the problem as he sees Asean as a group of countries which are brought together because we share common objectives," Abdullah told reporters after the meeting.

The prime minister said avian influenza was a problem with "serious consequences" on economies, emphasizing that the virus, which first appeared in Asia, was a global issue which went beyond borders.

Global problem

"This problem is a global problem, it is not a specific one-country problem or one-region problem," he said.

With China bracing for an escalation of the bird flu crisis after reporting at least one person had died, Apec leaders are expected to make a strong call Saturday for tighter regional cooperation to fight the virus.

All but four of the more than 60 human deaths from bird flu since 2003 - which were in Cambodia - have been recorded in Apec member countries, namely Thailand, Indonesia, China and worst-hit Vietnam.

Indonesia's bird flu death toll climbed to seven Wednesday after two young women were confirmed to have died of the virus.