"At the Apec summit one of our primary aims is to get the Apec trade ministers to agree to a dialogue on how to promote greater regional integration and trade liberalisation in the automotive sector," he said in a statement issued from GM's Asia-Pacific office in Singapore.

Smith is one of three United States representatives appointed by US president Bill Clinton to the Apec Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and co-chairs the council's early voluntary sectoral liberalisation (EVSL) initiative group.

Early liberalisation of trade in 15 key sectors was agreed to at the Vancouver APEC summit last year, with nine sectors on a fast track for implementation by 1999.

Smith and the ABAC will be lobbying Apec trade ministers to finalise a credible programme of liberalisation for theremaining sectors and elevate extra ones to the fast track programme.

"Despite the really tough economic environment in Asia, we need to stay on course. Asia has benefited from its open markets and it is important that their markets stay open, otherwise there is the real possibility we will see the financial crisis deepen," he said.

Free trade made good economic sense, would increase competitiveness, create jobs, develop skills, expand consumer choice and bolster sustainable economic development in the region and help recover from its 16-month-long crisis, he added.

The automotive industry played "a critical role in the development process" of economies, said Smith, whose own company has invested $2.5 billion in the region in the past three years.

The 18 Apec members account for almost half of the world's automotive exports. About 60 per cent of global motor vehicle sales and over 60 per cent of production takes place in the Asia-Pacific region.

Apec groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China,Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Russia, Peru and Vietnam are to become members at the Kuala Lumpur summit.