The Pacific Rim nations on Tuesday pledged to dismantle 'without delay' transnational terrorist groups and called for tougher steps to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit also suggested tough restrictions on shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile that can be used by terrorists to shoot down civilian aircraft.

The resolution adopted at the end of their two-day summit stated, "We agreed to dedicate APEC not only to advancing the prosperity of our economies, but also to the complementary mission of ensuring the security of our people."

They vowed to 'eliminate the severe and growing danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery' by strengthening international non-proliferation regimes and adopting and enforcing effective export controls.

"We agreed to dedicate APEC not only to advancing the prosperity of our economies, but also to the complementary mission of ensuring the security of our people," he said.

United States President George W Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed and Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawarta were among 21 leaders who attended the summit.

Besides terrorism, the leaders reaffirmed the primacy of the WTO and said the Doha round of trade talks offered the 'potential for real gains for all economies, particularly developing economies'.

"To realise our vision amidst the rapidly changing international environment, we agreed to strengthen our partnership not only to liberalise and facilitate regional trade and investment, but also to protect our people and societies against threats to their security, while preparing them to benefit fully from free and open trade," the resolution said.

Leaders, including Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, met over the last two days to discuss pressing issues but terrorism and North Korea upstaged the core theme of trade.

Referring to a text by Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez during the collapsed Cancun meet, the leaders agreed to 're-energise the negotiation process, building on Chairman Debrez's text of September 13, 2003'.

Though the declaration did not directly refer to North Korea, Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatara said in a statement, "We seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue while addressing all the concerns of the parties including the security concerns raised by the DPRK (North Korea)."

"We are committed to the maintenance of peace and stability on the peninsula and support continuation of the six-party talks and look forward to concrete and verifiable progress towards a complete and permanent nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula," he said.

The grouping also accepted a US proposal to curb trade in shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile.

They agreed to adopt export controls on the weapons, secure stockpiles, regulate production and trade, and ban sales to private clients.

The leaders said there would be more coordination of counter terrorism activities by improving cooperation and technical assistance between APEC's Counter Terrorism Task Force and its counterparts in the United Nations and the G-8 group of developed nations.

The resolution agreed to implement an APEC action plan on SARS, which would help the grouping prevent and respond to regional health threats, including naturally occurring infectious disease and bio-terrorism, the leaders said.

While some countries noted the APEC meet had been dominated by security issues, the leaders unanimously urged all countries to eliminate the severe and growing danger posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.