Finance senior officials, then ministers or their deputies of the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will meet from Tuesday to Friday in Hanoi, ahead of November's Apec summit.

They are expected to discuss tools to ensure macroeconomic stabilization.

Round tables will also deal with the "promotion of public finance efficiency and sustainability" and "financial sector reform to attract capital flows," according to the official program.

"Leaders there will discuss the general macro-economic situation," said Japanese finance ministry spokesman Takahiro Kuchiki.

"Japan will exchange its opinion, for example, on how reforming the financial sector will attract capital flows into developing countries, which is a good thing," Kuchiki said.

Talks including series of bilateral meetings could also address any issues of concern in the region, from oil prices to greater flexibility of the yuan, global imbalance or the fragile situation of the Asian markets.

"There has already been progress in strengthening resilience of the Asian financial markets since the Asian crisis. They may discuss these issues further, or means to further improve them," said Il Houng Lee, Vietnam country director for International Monetary Fund.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is to attend the meeting.

"The US, given the greater importance of the Asian region as a whole, wants to send a clear signal it is taking APEC very seriously," a foreign expert said.