Finance ministers from APEC countries meeting in Thailand this week will add topics like regional free trade and fostering small businesses to their usual dose of macroeconomic talks, Japanese officials say.

While these issues are usually outside a finance minister's remit, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- who hosts an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting next month -- has insisted that they are tackled before the leaders discuss ways to promote regional prosperity, they said.

The thorny issue of the Chinese yuan, which is now virtually pegged to the dollar at what critics see as an unfairly, low level, may pop up during the Sept 4-5 finance ministers' meeting in Phuket but is not on the official agenda, the officials added.

"Issues like small-and medium-sized enterprises are of great concern to Prime Minister Thaksin ... and I would expect a brief report to be produced from the (finance ministers') meeting," said Hiroshi Watanabe, the head of the international bureau at Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF).

On regional trade arrangements, including free-trade pacts, talks will centre on issues like intellectual property and streamlining customs procedures, officials said.

"This is a finance ministers' meeting, so the aim is not so much to reach an agreement on a specific issue," a MOF official said, adding that issues like disputes over the treatment of farm products would be dealt with at a different forum, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Foreign exchange was unlikely to be a major issue.

"The need for intervention to prevent overshooting and volatility in exchange rates has already been confirmed at the Group of Seven and other gatherings," a third MOF official said.

Watanabe denied speculation that Washington and Tokyo would join together to urge China to revalue its yuan currency.

Snow is in Tokyo on Monday and leaving for Beijing on Tuesday before heading to Thailand. Watanabe said Tokyo's position was that China should do what it thought best for itself, taking into consideration its WTO membership and bigger role in the global economy.