Geithner: Asian economies must restore global growth

US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner has urged Asia-Pacific countries to ramp up their efforts to restore growth in the global economy.

At a meeting of the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) countries, Geithner pressed finance ministers to take action at an upcoming summit in Hawai, the BBC reports.

He also urged Europe to put in place a "strong plan" to resolve the ongoing debt crisis.

"We are all directly affected by the crisis in Europe. But the economies gathered here are in a better position than most to take steps to strengthen growth in the face of these pressures from Europe," he said.

Many APEC countries have experienced rapid increases in economic growth, vastly overshadowing the sluggish progress made in the US and Europe over recent years.

Geithner argued APEC countries would benefit from becoming more consumption driven and less dependent on developed economies.

"As the US continues to work through the problems that caused our crisis, and Europe confronts periods of slower growth, Asian economies will need to do more to stimulate domestic-demand growth," he said.

The summit in Hawai, which will be hosted by US President Barack Obama, is seen as an opportunity for it to garner support for its Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade pact.

Some smaller Asia-Pacific countries are now mulling joining APEC, and Japan's prime minister Yoshihiko Noda is also reported to be considering joining. Such a move would be a major boost to the pact.