Finance ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum warned on Thursday against rising protectionist sentiment, saying they would resist the erection of barriers to free trade in response to the global economic crisis.

“We have been very clear. We will resist any intention of protectionist measures in our areas,” Luis Valdivieso, Peru’s finance minister, said at the close of the week-long meeting, which comes ahead of crucial international financial summits in São Paulo and Washington in the next two weeks.