WRAPUP 3-APEC pledges to boost trade as geopolitical rifts hijack regional summits
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APEC is the third summit in a week in the Asia-Pacific
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Global leaders attend the G20, ASEAN and APEC talks
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North Korean missile launch overshadowed first day of APEC
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China's Xi attends summits, holds flurry of bilateral meetings
By Poppy McPherson, Juarawee Kittisilpa and Panu Wongcha-um
BANGKOK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Leaders of the 21-member APEC bloc pledged on Saturday to boost trade and do more to tackle other economic challenges, wrapping up the last of three summits in the region in a week that have been overshadowed by intense geopolitical rivalry.
The summits have been attended by global leaders, and the talks have often been disrupted by friction spilling over from the war in Ukraine as well as flashpoints such as the Taiwan strait and the Korean peninsula.
A Southeast Asian summit that included China, Japan and the United States was held in Cambodia, while the Group of 20 (G20) major economies met on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting was interrupted on Friday when Vice President Kamala Harris, who is heading the U.S. delegation, called an emergency gathering of allies on the sidelines to condemn North Korea after it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
On Saturday, Thai Prime Minister and APEC chair Prayuth Chan-ocha sought to bring the focus back to economic issues and said APEC made "significant progress" by agreeing a multi-year work plan for a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).
An APEC leaders' declaration said the group would uphold and further strengthen a rules-based multilateral trading system, but also recognised more intensive efforts were needed to address challenges like rising inflation, food security, climate change and natural disasters.
"This year, we have also witnessed the war in Ukraine further adversely impact the global economy," said the declaration, which said most members strongly condemned the war.
At the G20 meeting in Indonesia, members unanimously adopted a declaration that said most members condemned the Ukraine war but also acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.
The APEC leaders echoed the G20 declaration as they referred to U.N. resolutions that deplore Russia's aggression and demand its complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine, but also noted a variety of opinions.
"There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognising that APEC is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy," the bloc said.