Prime Minister John Key is at odds with Apec's hosts as he sits down around the table next to some of the world's most powerful leaders at 7 o'clock this morning.
Key will propose his own way forward through the global financial crisis in Lima, Peru.
But heis at loggerheads with Peruvian President Alan Garcia, who yesterday declared that it should not even be called a crisis - that it was simply "growing pains" from the speed of global development.
But Key has outgoing United States President George W Bush and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on his side.
He dined with Rudd last night, who endorsed Key's line that a failure to get the Doha Round back on track would be a failure of political leadership. Rudd said he had made exactly the same point last week in Washington.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Key yesterday and said Bush wanted to meet him separately during the summit.
Key will also meet with Garcia, who is chairing the meeting of the 21 world leaders and is expected to be the spokesman for the summit communique tomorrow, including very strong language on the financial crisis.
Garcia spoke before Key yesterday and surprised the audience by effectively denying there was a crisis.
Key broke with protocol and openly disputed Garcia's views, telling reporters: "This isn't about growing pains. This is about actually trying to stabilise the economies of the world and actually get them moving again."
At today's meeting Key will call for greater control over the growth of credit in boom times.
