SYDNEY (AFP) -- Asia Pacific leaders issued an ""urgent"" plea Sunday for all countries involved in deadlocked global trade talks to step up efforts on breaking down barriers to global commerce.

After a summit in Sydney, they said priority must be given to securing an agreement on agriculture and industrial products within the so-called Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, reading a declaration in front of most of the other leaders of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, pledged their ""very strong support"" for the Doha round.
--------Statement issued
They issued a statement on the WTO talks which Howard said ""was an urgent request for all countries involved in the Doha round to renew their efforts to achieve an outcome, emphasizing that agriculture and industrial products are the two priority areas.""
Together the APEC economies, including many of the biggest trading nations such as the United States, China and Japan, account for nearly half of world trade and 56 percent of its output.
WTO chief Pascal Lamy has been in Sydney for the group's annual meeting to lobby for support in persuading his own organization's 151 members to reach a compromise.
They are arguing over the size of cuts in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services amid fierce disagreements between rich and poor countries over the concessions they need to make.
U.S. President George W. Bush was not in Sydney for Howard's brief address marking the formal end of the summit, having left a day early to fly back to Washington to prepare for a landmark report on the war in Iraq.