Stephen Harper shakes hands with Singapore officials after arriving Saturday morning. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Singapore early Saturday for what amounts to less than 24 hours of talks on global economic recovery and trade flows.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, or APEC, summit includes leaders from 21 countries that border the Pacific Ocean, ranging from giant economies China and the United States to the impoverished Papua New Guinea.

High-level summits this year of the newly ascendant G20, which includes several of the key emerging APEC economies, suggest the Singapore meeting is less about policy breakthroughs than an opportunity to assess incremental movement forward.

Financial governance reforms, co-ordinating global stimulus timetables and fighting protectionist trade sentiments are all on the agenda.

Canada will host concurrent G8 and G20 summits next summer in central Ontario, and Harper's officials say he'll be working the corridors in Singapore in preparation.

"I do anticipate the prime minister having an aggressive approach toward meeting and having discussions on a bilateral level," with several APEC leaders, said Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas.

Formed in 1989, APEC was designed to harness and exploit the booming economies and trade area of the Pacific rim. As such, it has never been seen as a primary forum for discussions on global warming and curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Decidedly 20th century

But with the Singapore meeting falling less than a month before a United Nations climate change conference in Denmark, APEC leaders will be discussing environmental issues and their impact on their economies.

A number of countries, including Canada's Conservative government, have been downplaying the prospect of a negotiated global accord emerging in Copenhagen to supercede the Kyoto protocol. Buy-in from fast growing economies such as China and India is considered crucial for the next global climate agreement by the Harper government.

That sets up an interesting debate for the APEC nations.

Reports out of Singapore suggest that much of the massive stimulus spending by a number of Asian countries has been heavily weighted toward forward-looking green technologies, a focus that could make Canada's roads, bridges and arenas infrastructure program look decidedly 20th century.

Harper leaves Singapore on Sunday afternoon for a three-day visit to India, his first since becoming prime minister in 2006.

He returns to southeast Asia again next month for his own official visit to China.