Business leaders from member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wrapped up on Friday a four-day meeting in Tokyo, urging their governments to take decisive action to combat the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia.

Participants in the APEC Business Advisory Council meeting expressed concern over the impact of SARS on regional economies.

They said transparent and timely information is necessary to fight SARS and called for border controls to be streamlined and for appropriate health safeguards to be ensured.

The business leaders also said SARS should not be used as an excuse for protectionism.

Victor Fung, a delegate from Hong Kong, told a news conference that there have been no signs of protectionism linked to SARS as yet, but it is necessary to take the issue up at this point to curb any such effort in the future.

Nobuhiko Kawamoto, a director and adviser to Honda Motor Co. and one of three Japanese delegates to the talks, said unified quarantine standards should be introduced in the region under the guidance of the World Health Organization, as each APEC economy has a different standard.

Tasuku Takagaki, a senior adviser to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said he and the other Japanese representatives had long discussions over whether they should cancel the ABAC meeting due to SARS.

They decided to hold the event as scheduled in the end, but took precautions by asking participants from China, Hong Kong and Singapore -- the areas worst affected by SARS -- to undergo health checks and provide medical certificates, Takagaki said.

In addition to the SARS issues, the participants drew up a set of proposals on trade and investment, which include calls for APEC leaders to remain committed to the 1994 APEC summit goal of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, adopted in Indonesia's Bogor.

They also proposed that the APEC economies focus on facilitating and enhancing secure trade by taking precautions against terrorism, while ensuring that such security measures do not increase business costs.

ABAC Chairman Viphandh Roengpithya, from Thailand, said the meeting was "very fruitful."

ABAC plans to submit the proposals to the June 2-3 APEC trade ministers' meeting in Khon Kaen, Thailand. The proposals then will be finalized as recommendations and presented to the APEC leaders' meeting in Bangkok in October.

APEC, set up in 1989, consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.