Pacific Rim leaders convened Monday for an annual meeting where efforts to seek regional free trade agreements and ways to sustain the fragile global economic recovery are expected to top the agenda.

Leaders from the 21-member APEC are also expected to endorse an agreement proposed by host China to set up an anti-corruption network in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Among those attending this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit are South Korean President Park Geun-hye, U.S.

President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

China is seeking to speed up the creation of a sprawling APEC-wide free trade agreement, better known as FTAAP, even though the world's second-largest economy is reluctant to open up its own market dominated by state-run companies. 

The idea of creating the FTAAP has been discussed for many years at the annual APEC gatherings, but China has stepped up diplomatic efforts in recent months to make it a formal agenda item, a move seen as bolstering its economic clout in the region. 

The push by China for the FTAAP is likely to meet resistance by the U.S. and some APEC members, which have made efforts to seal a 12-nation free trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that currently excludes China. 

APEC foreign and trade ministers, however, agreed to launch a feasibility study for the FTAAP in their final meeting Saturday ahead of the summit. 

 "In order to translate the FTAAP from a vision to reality, we agree to kick off and advance the process in a comprehensive and systematic manner towards the eventual realization of the FTAAP," the ministers said in a statement. 

"We agree to launch a collective strategic study on issues related to the realization of the FTAAP and adopt the outline of this study."

The APEC summit is the largest event yet hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is seeking to increase China's influence in Asia, but the country is also embroiled in a series of maritime disputes with Asian neighbors. 

In a speech at the APEC CEO Summit on Sunday, Xi cited lingering impacts of the global economic crisis, a fragile recovery in some economies and economic equality as challenges the Asia-Pacific region is facing. 

"The development prospect of our region hinges on the decisions and actions we take today," Xi said. "We are duty-bound to create and fulfill an Asia-Pacific dream for our people."

Park and Xi held a bilateral meeting Monday on the sidelines of the APEC gathering, and the two nations announced an "effective conclusion" of bilateral free trade talks that will bring overall economic benefits to the two economic powers. 

Some analysts said the deal will not only boost bilateral trade between the two nations but also help South Korea bolster its political relations with China, the only patron of North Korea. 

Representing about 40 percent of the world's population, APEC accounts for more than half of global gross domestic product. 

While economic matters will dominate the APEC summit, at least on the surface, geopolitical tensions, including the crisis in Ukraine and North Korea's nuclear weapons program, are likely to top the agenda at bilateral summits on the sidelines. 

Ahead of a bilateral summit between Obama and Xi, North Korea on Saturday released two Americans who had been detained in the isolated country.

Media attention has been also focused on whether Xi and Abe will hold their first formal summit as prospects for such a bilateral meeting have been growing after the two nations pledged to seek better ties last week. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the signs of a thaw in China-Japan relations. 

"Any steps that the two countries can take to improve the relationship and reduce tensions is helpful, not just to the two countries, but helpful to the region," Kerry told reporters in Beijing on Saturday. (Yonhap)