Leadership speculation and ominous Sydney skies are threatening to rain on Prime Minister John Howard's parade as he officially kicks off the long-awaited APEC leaders' summit.
As he fends off talk that his leadership is terminal and he should step aside, Mr Howard will breakfast with US President George W Bush and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as part of an inaugural leadership level strategic dialogue.
Unfortunately for Mr Howard the meeting will see him rubbing shoulders with two men, who like him, are being seen as lame duck leaders.
Mr Abe's leadership is under a cloud after his party was thrashed in recent elections and he has lost a number of ministers to corruption scandals, while Mr Bush is seen as lacking authority as the Republican leader sees out his term with the Democrats controlling both houses of Congress.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the tri-lateral discussions would be wide-ranging and would not focus on China's growing power in the region.
"China is not going to be a significant issue," he told reporters.
"Obviously we will talk about the situation in the Middle East, in Iraq, the situation surrounding Iran, the Middle East peace process in relation to the Israelis and the Palestinians."
Mr Bush also proposed another forum which could leave China feeling on the outer, a new Asia Pacific Democracy Partnership.
"Through this partnership, free nations will work together to support democratic values, strengthen democratic institutions, and assist those who are working to build and sustain free societies across the Asia Pacific region," he told the APEC business summit.
While Sydneysiders may feel they've already had enough of the APEC circus, the centrepiece event - the leaders' summit - only starts on Saturday.
Mr Howard will welcome the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders to the Sydney Opera House, where they will discuss issues ranging from global trade talks to regional security and climate change.
He will be hoping that Sydney skies don't rain on his parade when leaders gather at lunchtime for the official APEC photograph which will show them in the much anticipated Australian "national costume" with the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge as a backdrop.
Exactly what the outfit will be is still being kept under wraps, but organisers did reveal it would include the colours eucalyptus green, mustard yellow, slate blue and ochre.
Nuclear power is unlikely to take centre stage at APEC but it was a key element of discussions between the Australian and Russian leaders, who signed a nuclear safeguards agreement paving the way for the sale of Australian uranium to the former Soviet power.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promises the uranium will be used for nuclear power, and not for weapons.
Mr Downer tipped the deal could be worth up to $1 billion a year for Australia in uranium sales.
The foreign minister was also playing down expectations for the so-called "Sydney declaration", a statement leaders are expected to release on Saturday at APEC on climate change.
"These are very difficult negotiations ... I make no predictions about how those negotiations will go, they've been going on for quite some time," he told reporters.
"We want to look to the future and see in the end what sort of an arrangement can be made worldwide to stabilise and ultimately reduce C02 emissions."
Negotiators have spent the past few days thrashing out the details for the statement after Australia initially raised expectations that it would push for non-binding targets for cutting emissions to be included in a future United Nations climate change framework.
Mr Downer denied that comments by China's President Hu Jintao about the primacy of UN framework were any sort of slight to Australia.
The Associated Press reported that the developing world had won a concession to have the statement recognise that the UN was the main forum to debate the problem.
Mr Downer confirmed the Sydney declaration would reflect that "the UN is going to be a key to the architecture of this".
"Nobody is talking of scrapping the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change," he said.
A bigger sticking point - whether the statement should include targets for dealing with greenhouse gases - remained unresolved, Indonesian negotiator Salman Al-Farisi told AP.
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