Asia-Pacific leaders fail to reach consensus on APEC communique

PORT MORESBY (Reuters) - A Chinese official said on Sunday that Asia-Pacific leaders could not issue the traditional communique at the end of the regional APEC forum, held in Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG will instead issue a "chairman's statement", said Zhang Shaogang, director-general of China's international department at the Ministry of Commerce. Disagreement over the future of multilateral trade was a sticking point, PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato told Reuters earlier. (This version of the story corrects paraphrase of PNG foreign minister to clarify trade was a sticking point) (Reporting by Jonathan Barrett in PORT MORESBY; Editing by Himani Sarkar and David Evans)