Obama to discuss 'balanced' growth plan with APEC leaders

US President Barack Obama said Thursday he would discuss the need for a "balanced" growth strategy with Asia-Pacific leaders at a weekend summit in Singapore in a bid to hasten economic recovery. Under the strategy, the world will rely less on the United States in consumption of goods and borrowing, Obama said ahead of his departure Thursday on his maiden tour of Asia. The United States is reeling from a record budget deficit that has added pressure on the dollar, a global reserve currency, as the world's largest economy struggles to recover from prolonged recession. Speaking at the White House, Obama said his discussions with fellow leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum would be about "a strategy for growth that is both balanced and broadly shared." "It's a strategy in which Asian and Pacific markets are open to our exports and one in which prosperity around the world is no longer as dependent on American consumption and borrowing, but rather more on American innovation and products," he said. "It's through these steps with our partners, in addition to the work we're doing here at home, that we will not only revive our economy in the short-term, but rebuild it stronger in the long-term," Obama said. "That's been the focus of our efforts these past 10 months. It will continue to be our focus in the months ahead," he added. Imbalances in global growth, in which Asia relied too heavily on exports for economic growth and the United States too much on spending, has been partly blamed for fueling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Leaders of the Group of 20 developing and developed economies agreed at a recent summit to tackle head-on the imbalances in global economic growth. Washington strongly campaigned for the move, saying it would help prevent another global crisis exacerbated by the wide gap between reserve surplus-rich Asian nations led by China and the mostly deficit-hit Western nations. The latest financial crisis arising from a US home mortgage meltdown had resulted in unprecedented actions by governments, including multibillion dollar state bailouts of troubled mega private banks and other institutions. The United States itself pumped in more than a trillion dollars into the economy to revive it from recession since December 2007. The country posted its first growth in the third quarter after a year of contractions. As he leaves for Asia Thursday, Obama will take a precious week out of his bid to enact an ambitious domestic agenda to show the region, and a rising China, that Washington is no longer distracted by crises elsewhere. He will travel first to Japan for talks Friday with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, then attend the weekend's APEC summit in Singapore and become the first US president to sit down with all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including military-ruled Myanmar. Obama will next visit Shanghai, and fly on to Beijing for a state dinner and talks with President Hu Jintao, then wrap up his tour in South Korea.