The forum, to be held in Fiji, is expected to yield political and commercial agreements aimed at opening the region to the Chinese.

That agreement, aimed at raising prices by reducing production, was essentially negotiated by Saudi Arabia.

The agreement, aimed at ending 14 years of civil strife, has been opposed by pro-Iranian Shiite groups.

An earlier military agreement (the Sofia Document), also aimed at strengthening confidence and security, had been signed in December 1991.

That commitment was made in September 1994 under an agreement aimed at halting a flow of more than 30,000 boat people from Cuba.

Poland and Lithuania have signed an agreement aimed at protecting their natural environment.

That agreement, aimed at raising prices by reducing production, was essentially negotiated by Saudi Arabia, which owns the world's biggest pool of oil.

There are many symbolic elements in the agreement aimed at unifying the country.

The Harkin-Engel Protocol is an international agreement aimed at ending child labour in the production of cocoa.

The proposed partnership agreement is part of a new generation of agreements aimed at redefining the external action of the European Union.