Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

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"APEC" redirects here. For other uses, see APEC (disambiguation).

Image:ApecLogo-2003.png

Membership	21 member economies
Seat of Secretariat	Singapore
Official website	http://www.apec.org

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a group of Pacific Rim countries that meet with the purpose of improving economic and political ties. It has standing committees on a wide range of issues, from communications to fisheries.

The heads of government of all APEC members (with the exception of Chinese Taipei, see below) meet annually in a summit called "APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting" rotating in location among APEC's member economies. APEC is famous for its tradition of having attending leaders dress in the national costume of the host nation.

1 Membership
- 1.1 Current members
- 1.2 Potential members
2 History and development
3 APEC annual meetings
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Membership

[edit] Current members

Currently, most countries with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean are members of the organization, with the exception of the following:

Colombia and Ecuador in South America
the six Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama
Cambodia, India, East Timor, Macau, and North Korea in Asia
the Pacific Islands, such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Palau.
France, although present in the Pacific with the Overseas Territories of French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia

APEC's 21 members by date of membership are the following:

Founding members, November 1989:

3rd Ministerial Meeting, Seoul, South Korea, November 1991:

1st Summit, Seattle, USA, November 1993:

2nd Summit, Bogor, Indonesia, November 1994:

Image:Flag of Chile (bordered).svg Chile

6th Summit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia November 1998:

The People's Republic of China represents the interests of mainland China only, since Hong Kong, and Macau are considered separate economies.
Hong Kong joined the APEC in 1991 while British rule and took the name Image:Flag of Hong Kong 1959.svg "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."
Due to pressure from the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), is not allowed to carry either of the names "Republic of China" or "Taiwan" but must be referred to as Chinese Taipei within the organization. The president of the Republic of China is not allowed to attend the annual "APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting" and must send a ministerial-level official in economic affairs as his envoy. (see list of Chinese Taipei Representatives to APEC)

[edit] Potential members

India has requested for an entry into APEC. Earlier it was strongly opposed to, but given the country's new found economic clout and U.S. support, it is likely that India may be accorded observer status.

Guam has also been actively requesting a separate membership, citing the example of Hong Kong, but the request is objected by the United States, which currently represents Guam.

[edit] History and development

In January 1989, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke called for more effective economic cooperation across the Asia Pacific Region. This lead to the first meeting of APEC in Canberra, Australia in November, chaired by foreign minister, Gareth Evans. Attended by ministers from 12 countries, the meeting concluded with commitments for future annual meetings in Singapore and South Korea.

Malaysia initially defied ASEAN membership in APEC, suggesting instead an East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) within APEC, which would leave out 'Western' states such as the U.S., Australia or New Zealand. The plan itself was attacked by the US and Japan.

The first APEC Leaders' Meeting occurred in 1993 when U.S. President Bill Clinton, seeing it as a crucial vehicle to bring the derailed Uruguay Round of trade talks back on track, invited member economies' leaders to Blake Island, Washington. At Blake Island, Leaders called for continued reduction of trade and investment barriers, envisioning an "Asia-Pacific community" that promotes prosperity through cooperation. APEC's headquarters are located in Singapore.

APEC's stated "Bogor Goals" adopted in 1994 at the Bogor summit are aimed at free and open trade and investments by reducing tariff barrier to a level of between zero to five percent in the Asia-Pacific area for industrialized economies by 2010 and for developing economies by 2020.

In 1995, APEC established a business advisory body, called the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), which consists of three business executives from each member economy.

In 1997 the APEC summit was in Vancouver, British Columbia. Great controversy arose when politicians instructed RCMP officers to use force and pepper spray against non-violent protesters. The protesters objected to the presence of dictators such as Indonesia's president Suharto<ref name="Pue 2000">Pue, W. Wesley (2000). Pepper in our Eyes: the APEC Affair. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press. ISBN 0-7748-0779-2. </ref><ref name="Wallace 1998">Wallace, Bruce. "APEC Protest Controversy", Maclean's via The Canadian Encylopedia, Historica Foundation of Canada, September 21, 1998. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.</ref><ref name="Nuttall-Smith 1997">Nuttall-Smith, Chris. "APEC summit gets nasty at UBC", Varsity News, Varsity Publications, Inc., November 27, 1997. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.</ref><ref name="Schmidt 1998">Schmidt, Sarah. "Student protesters fight back for civil rights", Varsity News, Varsity Publications, Inc., January 6, 1998. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.</ref><ref name="BCCLA 1997 APEC">British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) (November 23, 1997). Civil rights group denounces attack on UBC students' APEC protests. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. </ref><ref name="BCCLA 1997 Jones Arrested">British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) (November 25, 1997). Student member of BCCLA executive arrested!. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. </ref>.

APEC's push for a new round of trade negotiations and support for a program of trade capacity-building assistance at the 2001 summit in Shanghai, led to the successful launch of the Doha Development Agenda a few weeks later. Leaders also endorsed the U.S.-proposed 'Shanghai Accord' which emphasizes implementation of APEC's commitments to 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% over 5 years, and pursue trade liberalization policies relating to information technology goods and services.

In 2003, Jemaah Islamiah head Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, was planning an attack against the October 2003 APEC summit in Bangkok. He was captured in the city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, near Bangkok by Thai Police on August 11, 2003, before he could finish planning his attack on the APEC summit.

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

Image:APEC2005 Hanbok.jpg

The 2005 edition was held in November in Busan, South Korea. The meeting focused on the current Doha trade round which is due to be discussed further in a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December of the same year. Weeks earlier, trade negotiations in Paris had been held between various WTO members, including the US and the European Union. The talks centered on reducing agricultural trade barriers. The EU resisted substantial reductions in agricultural tariffs, which risked a meltdown of the process. In response, APEC urged the EU to agree to farm subsidy reduction. Aside from the meetings, peaceful protests against APEC were staged in Busan, but these didn't interfere with the APEC schedule.

Image:APEC2006 Áo Dài.jpg On November 19 2006 Pacific Rim leaders demanded a fresh start for moribund global free-trade talks and condemned terrorism and other threats to security. APEC also criticized North Korea for its recent atomic test, urging the reclusive regime to make “concrete and effective” steps toward nuclear disarmament. Concerns about proliferation in the region overshadowed the economic topics that are the core of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s mission. Some of the participants were unsure why the statement concerning this matter was not issued in written form, just orally although it was a joint statement and it was unanimous. Some APEC felt that the United Nations are more appropriate for a written statement. And while North Korea is not an APEC member, some countries are sensitive to the issue of interfering in other nations’ affairs. The White House, nevertheless, was pleased with the toughness of the wording and the fact that the members of APEC came together on a common statement, which urged North Korea to take concrete steps to live up to earlier commitments to stop developing atomic bombs. The missile launches from July 4 to July 5 2006 and the nuclear test on October 9 2006, conducted by North Korea, poses a clear threat to our shared interest of peace and security. APEC provided a chance for the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea to try to work out a unified strategy as they prepare to resume nuclear negotiations with the North a year after it walked out. The talks could resume as early as December 2006. Differences remain on the best strategy for dealing with the North, which has used brinksmanship to gain aid and security guarantees.

It appeared that the U.S. did manage to get one North Korea-related addition in the summit’s final written declaration which appeared to endorse the financial sanctions that Washington imposed on the North over alleged currency counterfeiting and money laundering. The sanctions sparked North Korea’s boycott of the six-party talks.

See also: 2006 North Korean nuclear test

Host Vietnam parlayed its robust growth into multimillion-dollar contracts, while the United States and Russia signed a pact allowing Moscow’s future entry into the World Trade Organization. A top economic priority for the forum was the resurrection of the stalled Doha round of world trade talks, which collapsed in July 2006 over a U.S.-European feud on agricultural subsidies. Leaders like George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a joint declaration warning of “grave” consequences if the talks, aimed at slashing trade barriers in order to boost global growth and alleviate poverty, fail.[1]

[edit] APEC annual meetings

Number	Date	Country	Place	website	Photoshoot Fashion
1st	1989, November 6–7	Australia	Canberra		none
2nd	1990, July 29–31	Singapore	Singapore		none
3rd	1991, November 12–14	South Korea	Seoul		none
4th	1992, September 10–11	Thailand	Bangkok		none
5th	1993, November 19–20	United States	Seattle		bombardier jackets
6th	1994, November 15	Indonesia	Bogor		batik shirts
7th	1995, November 19	Japan	Osaka		business suits
8th	1996, November 25	Philippines	Manila / Subic		barong shirts
9th	1997, November 24–25	Canada	Vancouver		leather jackets
10th	1998, November 17–18	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur		batik shirts
11th	1999, September 12–13	New Zealand	Auckland		sailing jackets
12th	2000, November 15–16	Brunei	Brunei	[2]	Kain Tenunan shirts
13th	2001, October 20–21	China	Shanghai		silk-embroided jackets
14th	2002, October 26–27	Mexico	Los Cabos		guayabera shirts (m); huipíles (f)
15th	2003, October 20–21	Thailand	Bangkok		brocade shirts (m); brocade shawls (f)
16th	2004, November 20–21	Chile	Santiago de Chile	[3]	chamantos
17th	2005, November 18–19	South Korea	Busan	[4]	hanboks
18th	2006, November 18–19	Vietnam	Hanoi	[5]	áo dài
19th	2007, September 8–9	Australia	Sydney	[6]
20th	2008, November	Peru	Lima
21st	2009, November	Singapore	Singapore
22nd	2010, November	Japan