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The 'Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation' ('APEC') is an economic forum for a group of Pacific Rim countries to discuss matters on regional economy, cooperation, trade and investment. Together, these countries represent about 60% of the world economy (World Bank). Ministers from the member economies meet on a continual basis throughout the year. The activities are coordinated by the APEC Secretariat.
The organization conducts the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, an annual summit attended by the heads of government of all APEC members except Chinese Taipei, which is represented by a ministerial-level official. The location of the summit rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host member. The most recent summit, APEC Australia 2007, was concluded in Sydney on September 9.

Contents

History

Member economies

APEC Business Advisory Council

APEC annual meetings

Summit developments

References

See also

External links

History

In January 1989, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke called for more effective economic cooperation across the Pacific Rim region. This led to the first meeting of APEC in the Australian capital Canberra in November, chaired by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans. Attended by political ministers from twelve countries, the meeting concluded with commitments for future annual meetings in Singapore and South Korea.
Initially opposed by countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which instead proposed the East Asia Economic Caucus, which would exclude countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The plan was opposed and strongly criticized by Japan and the United States.
The first APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting occurred in 1993, when United States President Bill Clinton invited the heads of government from member economies to a summit on Blake Island, believing it would help bring the stalled Uruguay Round of trade talks on track. At the summit, leaders called for continued reduction of barriers trade and investment, envisioning a community in the Asia-Pacific region that promotes prosperity through cooperation. The APEC Secretariat was established to coordinate the activities of the organization.
In the summit of 1994 in Bogor, APEC adopted the Bogor Goals that aimed to reduce trade tariffs to below five percent in the Asia-Pacific region, by 2010 for industrialized economies and by 2020 for developing economies. In 1995, APEC established a business advisory body named the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), comprised of three business executives from each member economy.

Member economies

The current membership of APEC consists of 21 members, which includes most countries with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean. By convention, APEC uses the term ''member economy'' to refer to one of its members.

Member economy	Date of accession
Australia	1989
Brunei	1989
Canada	1989
Indonesia	1989
Japan	1989
Malaysia	1989
Philippines	1989
New Zealand	1989
Singapore	1989
Republic of Korea	1989
Thailand	1989
United States	1989
Republic of China[1]	1991
[2]	1991
People's Republic of China[3]	1991
Mexico	1993
Papua New Guinea	1993
Chile	1994
Peru	1998
Russia	1998
Vietnam	1998

India and Pakistan have both requested membership in APEC, and received initial support from the United States, China, Japan^[4] and Australia. Officials from the member economies are in the process of discussing whether to allow India and/or Pakistan to join.^[5][6] There is a concern among Western countries that India's and Pakistan's entry might tilt the balance of power in APEC in favor of Asia.^[7]
In addition to India and Pakistan, Mongolia, Laos, Colombia ^[8], Ecuador ^[9] are among a dozen countries seeking membership in APEC by 2008. Colombia applied for APEC's membership as early as in 1995, but its bid was halted as the organization stopped accepting new members from 1993 to 1996,^[10] and the moratorium was further prolonged to 2007 due to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis^[11]. Guam has also been actively seeking a separate membership, citing the example of Hong Kong, but the request is opposed by the United States, which currently represents Guam.

APEC Business Advisory Council

Economic Leaders also nominate three representatives per economy to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).

APEC annual meetings

Since its formation in 1989, APEC has held annual meetings with representatives from all member economies. The first four annual meetings were attended by ministerial-level officials. Beginning in 1993, the annual meetings are named APEC Economic Leaders Meetings and are attended by the heads of government from all member economies except Chinese Taipei, which is represented by a ministerial-level official. The location of the summit is rotated annually among the members. As a tradition, the leaders attending the summit participate in a photo op in which they dress in a costume that reflects the culture of the host member.
The Deputy Executive Director is a diplomatic representative from the member economy that will host the following year's annual meeting.

Annual meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

	Date	Host member	Location	Photo op fashion	Web site
1st	November 6–7, 1989	Australia	Canberra
2nd	July 29–31, 1990	Singapore	Singapore
3rd	November 12–14, 1991	Republic of Korea	Seoul
4th	September 10–11, 1992	Thailand	Bangkok
5th	November 19–20, 1993	United States	Seattle	bombardier jackets
6th	November 15, 1994	Indonesia	Bogor	batik shirts
7th	November 19, 1995	Japan	Osaka	business suits
8th	November 25, 1996	Philippines	Manila and Subic	barong shirts
9th	November 24–25, 1997	Canada	Vancouver	leather jackets
10th	November 17–18, 1998	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	batik shirts
11th	September 12–13, 1999	New Zealand	Auckland	sailing jackets
12th	November 15–16, 2000	Brunei Darussalem	Brunei	Kain Tenunan shirts	[6]
13th	October 20–21, 2001	People's Republic of China	Shanghai	silk-embroided "Tangzhuang" jackets
14th	October 26–27, 2002	Mexico	Los Cabos	guayabera shirts (m); huipíles (f)
15th	October 20–21, 2003	Thailand	Bangkok	brocade shirts (m); brocade shawls (f)
16th	November 20–21, 2004	Chile	Santiago	chamantos	[7]
17th	November 18–19, 2005	Republic of Korea	Busan	hanboks
18th	November 18–19, 2006	Vietnam	Hanoi	áo dài	[8]
19th	September 8–9, 2007	Australia	Sydney	Driza-Bone coats	[9]
20th	November 2008	Peru	Lima
21st	November 2009	Singapore	Singapore
22nd	November 2010	Japan
23rd	November 2011	United States
24th	November 2012	Russia

Summit developments

In 1997, the APEC summit was held in Vancouver. Controversy arose after officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used pepper spray against protesters. The protesters objected to the presence of autocratic leaders such as Indonesian President Suharto^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}.

At the 2001 summit in Shanghai, APEC leaders pushed for a new round of trade negotiations and support for a program of trade capacity-building assistance, leading to the successful launch of the Doha Development Agenda a few weeks later. Leaders also endorsed the Shanghai Accord proposed by the United States, emphasizing the implementation of open markets, structural reform, and capacity building. As part of the accord, leaders committed to develop and implement APEC transparency standards, reduce trade transaction costs in the Asia-Pacific region by 5 percent over 5 years, and pursue trade liberalization policies relating to information technology goods and services.

In 2003, Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin had planned to attack the APEC summit to be held in Bangkok in October. He was captured in the city of Ayutthaya, Thailand by Thai police on August 11, 2003, before he could finish planning the attack.

Chile became the first South American nation to host the summit in 2004. The agenda of that year was focused on terrorism and commerce, small and medium enterprise development, and contemplation of Free Trade Agreements and Regional Trade Agreements.

The 2005 summit was held in Busan, South Korea. The meeting focused on the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, leading up to the WTO Ministerial Conference of 2005 held in Hong Kong in December. Weeks earlier, trade negotiations in Paris were held between several WTO members, including the United States and the European Union, centered on reducing agricultural trade barriers. APEC leaders at the summit urged the European Union to agree to reducing farm subsidies. Peaceful protests against APEC were staged in Busan, but the summit schedule was not affected.

At the summit held on November 19, 2006 in Hanoi, APEC leaders called for a new start to global free-trade negotiations while condemning terrorism and other threats to security. APEC also criticized North Korea for conducting a nuclear test and a missile test launch that year, urging the country to take "concrete and effective" steps toward nuclear disarmament. Concerns about nuclear proliferation in the region was discussed in addition to economic topics. The United States and Russia signed an agreement as part of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
The latest summit, APEC Australia 2007, was held in Sydney, seeing the political leaders meeting from 2nd to 9th September, 2007.

References

1. The Republic of China (ROC) is not allowed to use the name "Republic of China" or "Taiwan", but is instead referred to as Chinese Taipei within the organization as it is not a recognized member of the United Nations. The President of the Republic of China does not attend the annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, instead sending a ministerial-level official responsible for economic affairs (See List of Chinese Taipei Representatives to APEC).
2. Hong Kong joined APEC in 1991 during British administration with the name " Hong Kong." In 1997, Hong Kong became a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China and took the name "Hong Kong, China."
3. The People's Republic of China represents the interests of mainland China only, since Hong Kong and Macau are considered separate economies.
4. APEC 'too busy' for free trade deal, says Canberra
5. India's membership issue
6. Extend a hand to an absent friend
7. [1]
8. [2]
9. [3]
10. [4]
11. [5]
12. Pepper in our Eyes: the APEC Affair, , W. Wesley, Pue, UBC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7748-0779-2

13. APEC Protest Controversy Bruce Wallace
14. APEC summit gets nasty at UBC Chris Nuttall-Smith
15. Student protesters fight back for civil rights Sarah Schmidt
16.

17.

See also

★ APEC Australia 2007

★ Asia-Europe Meeting

★ ASEAN Free Trade Area

★ East Asia Economic Caucus

★ East Asia Summit

External links

★ Vietnam - US trade

★ Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, official organization Web site

★ APEC 2007, official Web site for the 2007 annual meeting

★ Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding APEC