SAN FRANCISCO: Pacific Rim leaders showed divisions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza after a two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday.

Days of meetings involvingministers and leaders were dominated by a summit on Wednesday between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at cooling tensions between the world`s two largest economies, which have alarmed the region.

The 21 APEC members, which include Russia and Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, went intothe meetings divided over Russia`s war in Ukraine and the Israeli war on Gaza, and that is how they left. A statement issued by the US echoed last year`s APEC leaders` declaration in saying that `most` APEC members `strongly condemn aggression against Ukraine.

It said the leaders exchanged views on the Gaza crisis, with some objecting to language of the chair`s statement in an accompanying `Golden Gate Declaration` covering economic issues `on the basis that they do not believe that APEC is a forum to discuss geopolitical issues.` Some APEC leaders sharedthe united messages of the Nov. 11 joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, the chair`s statement said.

Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia in a joint statement said they were among those who supported the messages of the Riyadh summit, which had called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting Israel`s justification of its actions against Palestinians as selfdefense. The three countries also called for an `immediate, durable and sustained` humanitarian truce, and the unhindered provision of essential goods and services to civilians in Gaza.-Reuters