It now seems unlikely Key will be able to witness the signing of another historic New Zealand free trade deal - this time with Russia - at the Vladivostok Apec.
The Russian embassy lowered expectations on this score on Monday.
But while Key now seems unlikely to be photographed side-by-side with President Vladimir Putin witnessing Russia's first bilateral FTA - at the very least he is likely to leave his meeting with Putin with a renewed commitment from the Russian president.
Where Key will get the opportunity to make a splash is at the prestigious CEOs summit as one of four speakers at the opening panel on "Economic integration: Benefits and unintended consequences."
He is the only political leader on this panel. While Key is relatively small fry compared with Putin, outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao and Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - the mere fact that he is on at the beginning of the programme means that other leaders and their officials will have an opportunity to consider his words before the main business of Apec gets under way.
The key question is whether the PM will play-in some key messages for Apec political leaders to consider when they hold their retreat - or take the anodyne route which tends to be favoured by NZ's foreign affairs officials.
A newsletter spruiking the summit promotes Key's intentions. "With the Asia-Pacific becoming the engine for global economic growth, the success of our businesses and the overall wellbeing of our people will depend on our ability to make the most of the opportunities to improve trade and investment ties.
"We can do this through regional trade agreements, Apec, and, of course the WTO - I look forward to discussing these issues with the participants of the CEO Summit in Vladivostok."
With Russia having just recently made its debut at the WTO - and wanting to see some quick results to justify the internal disharmony caused by lowering domestic trade barriers - the time is opportune to focus attention on the need to get the Doha Round done.
Other panel participants include Igor Shuvalov, who is the first deputy PM of the Russian Federation, PWC International chairman Dennis Nally and International Paper boss John Faraci who spent time in NZ as CEO of Carter Holt Harvey when it was within his company's stable.
The PM's role will be to marry the lofty officialese that passes for communication in such fora, with business cut-through.
He will also have to balance the TPP agenda (which is largely seen now as being driven by the US) with that of the emerging Asian free trade bloc. At some point these blocs will need to converge.
This is a difficult balancing act. But frankly there is little point in Key pulling his punches.
At these summits, blunt, forceful and impassioned messages - sprinkled with compelling soundbites - make it into the international reportage.
On his arrival Key will also be briefed by Groser on the backstory to the Russian talks.
The Trade Minister met his Russian counterpart in Cambodia at another regional fora last week.
Before he left, Groser said he was ready to go at short notice to Moscow for further talks if the Russians indicated they wanted to break through the knotty issues around agriculture liberalisation in time for the Putin-Key meeting.
Russia already has a large dairy industry.
It wants technology transfer as a quid pro quo for liberalising its domestic market.
The Apec CEO affairs are usually dominated by wall-to-wall suits (and high-priced Armani at that) and are uniformly male.
But the organisers have gone out of their way to include a considerable number of female panelists and moderators in this year's lineup.
* Fran O'Sullivan is joining the PM's mission to Apec and Japan.
