World leaders attending an annual Pacific Rim summit will call for urgent progress in stalled global trade talks, according to a draft statement, but their officials struggled today to find consensus on another issue – climate change.

US president George Bush today urged a tough line in implementing UN sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear test at a Pacific Rim summit, where he is also pushing a US-backed proposal for a regional free-trade zone.

Trade ministers tried to keep the Pacific Rim summit focused on its economic agenda today as sideline discussions on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme threatened to steal the show in Vietnam.