Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders have reaffirmed their determination to deliver a free, open and transparent trade and investment environment in a declaration released after the end of their summit.

The two-day APEC meeting was held in the United States in the west-coast city of San Francisco.

The summit ended on Friday with a speech by this year's chair, US President Joe Biden. Biden said the leaders "worked together to find ways to build on inclusive, resilient and sustained economies for the Asia-Pacific."

Biden touched upon the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine in the chairman's statement. But they were not mentioned in the leaders' declaration.

A senior Biden administration official told NHK that with Russia and China present, it was not easy to reach consensus on those issues at APEC. The official criticized the two countries for what the administration calls an attempt to distract from critical issues.

APEC is a regional economic forum of 21 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio attended this year's APEC summit. Peru will host next year's APEC forum.