The Pacific Basin Economic Council will convene for a three-day meeting starting Sunday in Tokyo, bringing together business leaders from 20 Asia-Pacific economies.

Under the theme "Regional Vitality in the 21st Century," participants in the 34th International General Meeting of PBEC, a multinational business organization, will discuss economic challenges that the region faces.

Asia is being counted on to serve as a major engine for the world economy in the new century. But some Asian economies are still struggling to recover from the 1997 financial crisis, with the recent slowdown of the U.S. economy dealing a blow to their still fragile recovery.