John Key meets Obama in Singapore

John Key with Barack Obama during an earlier meeting in New York. Photo /Supplied

Prime Minister John Key was this morning breakfasting with American president Barack Obama and other Apec leaders to try to find common ground on climate change ahead of next month's crucial talks in Denmark.

The meeting was hastily arranged at the instigation of Australia and Mexico, who flew Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen to Singapore so he could also be present.

He leads the Conference of the Parties of 15, which oversees the United Nations-sponsored climate change talks aimed at developing global limits to greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Key also had "quite a fruitful" discussion with Mr Obama during the official Apec leaders' dinner last night.

He had thanked the president for his decision to forge a pan-Pacific free trade arrangement by first expanding membership of the existing four-nation Trans Pacific Partnership which is comprised of New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Brunei.

"He said he was looking forward to working with New Zealand and making progress on the trade front."