"There has been a widespread agreement that amongst the various other counter-terrorism measures that APEC should consider is measures to stop the trade and trafficking in what is known as MANPADS -- handheld anti-aircraft missile systems," Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

"And we are are pleased that APEC has now agreed to explore ways in which it can overcome the threat of MANPADS and Australia has been been very supportive of that," he told a media briefing.

A draft declaration to be issued at the end of the leaders' meeting, obtained by AFP, said that an "APEC Action Plan" on MANPADS would be adopted at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) talks.

There are growing fears that terrorists could use MANPADS, short for man-portable air-defense systems, to shoot down commercial planes and the United States is leading the push to stop the weapons from getting into the wrong hands.

Portable missiles became front-page news last November, when alleged terrorists fired two SA-7 surface-to-air weapons at a Boeing 757 airliner chartered to evacuate Israeli civilians out of Mombasa, Kenya.

SPACE.WIRE