SINGAPORE: A group of Pacific Rim countries, including the United States, China and Japan, extended by a year an agreement to raise no new barriers to trade and investment.

Trade officials from 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, known as APEC, said yesterday that the nonbinding commitment, which was first made in February 2008 and now runs through 2010, was designed to thwart possible protectionist measures from undermining economic growth and regional integration.

"Trade is an integral element of our economic recovery," US trade envoy Ron Kirk told reporters in Singapore at the end of a two-day meeting in the city state.