Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

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The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
APEC member countries shown in green
Headquarters		Singapore
Type		Economic forum
Member countries		21
Leaders
-	Executive Director	Juan Carlos Capuñay
Establishment		1989
Website http://www.apec.org/

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries or regions (styled 'member economies') to discuss the regional economy, cooperation, trade and investment. The membership is claimed to account for approximately 41% of the world's population, approximately 56% of world GDP and about 49% of world trade.^[1] The activities, including year-round meetings of the members' ministers, 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 (with the exception of the Republic of China (ROC) which is represented under the name Chinese Taipei by a ministerial-level official at the behest of the People's Republic of China (PRC). 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 1 History 2 Member economies 3 APEC Business Advisory Council 4 APEC annual meetings 5 Summit developments 6 APEC's Trade Facilitation Efforts 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 Notes 10 External links

[edit] 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.

The initial proposal was opposed by countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which instead proposed the East Asia Economic Caucus which would exclude non-Asian countries such as the United States, Canada, 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 US president Bill Clinton, after discussions with Australian prime minister Paul Keating, invited the heads of government from member economies to a summit on Blake Island. He believed it would help bring the stalled Uruguay Round of trade talks on track. At the summit, some leaders called for continued reduction of barriers to trade and investment, envisioning a community in the Asia-Pacific region that might promote prosperity through cooperation. The APEC Secretariat, based in Singapore, 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.

[edit] Member economies

APEC currently has 21 members, including 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
Republic of Korea	1989
Malaysia	1989
New Zealand	1989
Philippines	1989
Singapore	1989
Thailand	1989
United States	1989
Republic of China[2]	1991
Hong Kong, China[3]	1991
People's Republic of China[4]	1991
Mexico	1993
Papua New Guinea	1993
Chile	1994
Peru	1998
Russia	1998
Vietnam	1998

 India has requested membership in APEC, and received initial support from the United States, Japan^[5] and Australia. Officials from the member economies are in the process of discussing whether to allow India to join.^[6][7] There is a concern among Western countries that India's entry might tilt the balance of power in APEC in favor of Asia.^[8]

In addition to India  Mongolia,  Pakistan,  Laos,  Bangladesh,  Colombia,^[9]  Ecuador,^[10] 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,^[11] and the moratorium was further prolonged to 2007 due to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.^[12]  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 is one of the few international level organizations that Taiwan is allowed to join.

[edit] APEC Business Advisory Council

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

[edit] 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	[1]
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	[2]
17th	November 18–19, 2005	Republic of Korea	Busan	hanboks
18th	November 18–19, 2006	Vietnam	Hanoi	áo dài	[3]
19th	September 8–9, 2007	Australia	Sydney	Drizabones and Akubra Hats	[4]
20th	November 2008	Peru	Lima		[5]
21st	November 2009	Singapore	Singapore
22nd	November 2010	Japan
23rd	November 2011	United States	New York City
24th	November 2012	Russia	Vladivostok

[edit] 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.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}

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 launch of the Doha Development Agenda a few weeks later. The summit 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, the summit 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 APEC Australia 2007 summit was held in Sydney from 2-9 September 2007. The political leaders agreed to an "aspirational goal" of a 25% reduction of energy intensity correlative with economic development.^[19] Extreme security measures including airborne sharpshooters and extensive steel-and-concrete barricades were deployed against anticipated protesters and potential terrorists. However, protest activities were peaceful and the security envelope was penetrated with ease by a spoof diplomatic motorcade manned by members of the Australian television program The Chaser, one of whom was dressed to resemble the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

[edit] APEC's Trade Facilitation Efforts

APEC has long been at the forefront of reform efforts in the area of trade facilitation. As mentioned above, in 1994, APEC adopted the Bogor Goals, which aim to reduce tariffs amongst developed and developing members to below five percent by 2010 and 2020, respectively. In 2006, this framework led to the achievement of a 5 percent reduction in trade costs across the region.

By the year 2010, APEC leaders hope to achieve an additional 5 percent reduction in trade costs. To this end, a new Trade Facilitation Action Plan has been drafted that places greater emphasis on transparency initiatives. According to a 2008 research brief published by the World Bank as part of its Trade Costs and Facilitation Project, increasing transparency in the region's trading system is critical if APEC is to meet its Bogor Goal targets.^[20]

[edit] Criticism

APEC has been criticized for failing to clearly define itself or serve a useful purpose. According to the organization it is "the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region" established to "further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community."^[21] However, whether it has accomplished anything constructive remains debatable.^[22]

[edit] See also

• APEC Peru 2008
• APEC Australia 2007
• Asia-Europe Meeting
• ASEAN Free Trade Area
• East Asia Economic Caucus
• East Asia Summit

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Official Organization Web site by Peruvian Government
• APEC 2007, official Web site for the 2007 annual meeting
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding APEC
• APEC 2008 lodging in Lima-Peru
• Information and News about APEC Peru 2008

v • d • e Member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Australia · Brunei Darussalam · Canada · Chile · People's Republic of China · Hong Kong, China · Indonesia · Japan · Republic of Korea · Malaysia · Mexico · New Zealand · Papua New Guinea · Peru · Philippines · Russian Federation · Singapore · Chinese Taipei * · Thailand · United States of America · Vietnam * Designation of the Republic of China