Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Overview

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was established in 1989 and has become the pre-eminent economic forum in the Asia-Pacific. Its primary purpose is to facilitate economic growth and prosperity in the region, with the vision of creating a seamless regional economy. APEC pursues these objectives through trade and investment liberalisation, business facilitation, and economic and technical cooperation.

APEC aims to strengthen regional economic integration by removing impediments to trade and investment “at the border”, enhancing supply chain connectivity "across the border" and improving the business environment "behind the border". It endeavours to improve the operating environment for business by reducing the cost of cross-border trade, improving access to trade information and simplifying regulatory and administrative processes. APEC also assists member economies build the institutional capacity to implement and take advantage of the benefits of trade and investment reform. APEC supports the multilateral trade negotiations underway in the WTO, and complements the goals of the G-20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Private sector engagement is central to APEC's success. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), established in 1995, represents the interests of business in APEC. ABAC is composed of up to three members from each of the 21 member economies, with business representatives appointed by APEC Leaders. The annual APEC CEO Summit and regular Industry Dialogues also provide opportunities for regional business leaders to interact with APEC Leaders and address key issues affecting business in the region.

APEC operates on the basis of non-binding commitments and open dialogue. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

The APEC Secretariat is based in Singapore. It provides coordination, technical and advisory support as well as information management, communications and public outreach services. The Secretariat is headed by a fixed-term Executive Director, appointed for a period of three years. The Secretariat is also home to the APEC Policy Support Unit (PSU). The PSU assists APEC's deliberations by providing research, analysis and policy support. More information on APEC, including its structure, committees and activities, can be found on APEC's official website.

APEC members

APEC has 21 member economies:

• 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
• The Republic of the Philippines
• The Russian Federation
• Singapore
• Chinese Taipei
• Thailand
• United States of America, and
• Viet Nam.

The United States of America hosted APEC in 2011. The Russian Federation will host in 2012 and Indonesia in 2013.

Australia in APEC

Australia was a founding member of the APEC forum in 1989 and has been active in helping APEC achieve its current status. Australia has helped advance APEC's core work streams of regional economic integration, structural reform and targeted capacity building through its involvement across more than 30 APEC forums (including committees, working groups and sub-forums). Australia played host to APEC in 2007.

APEC makes an important contribution to the promotion of open trade and investment, economic development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and Australia has benefited from APEC's dynamism. Significant progress has been made by Australia and the region towards achieving the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2020. APEC's 21 member economies account for over half of global GDP and are home to more than 2.7 billion people. APEC partners account for over two-thirds of Australia's total trade in goods and services. Total two-way trade between Australia and APEC economies grew from A$121 billion in 1994 to A$391 billion in 2010, an average annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent. Over the same period, investment into Australia by APEC economies rose by 10.6 per cent per year to reach A$859 billion in 2010, with outward Australian investment into the APEC region growing by an average of 15.8 per cent per year to peak at A$662 billion in 2010¹.

Upcoming APEC meetings

Date	Location	Type of meeting
30 Jan – 19 Feb 2012	Moscow, Russia	First Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM1) and Related Meetings
16 – 17 Feb 2012	Yaroslavl, Russia	Finance Deputies' and Central Bank Deputies' Meetings
20 May – 5 Jun 2012	Kazan, Russia	Second Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM2) and Related Meetings
21 – 23 May 2012	Gyeongju, Korea	5th APEC Education Ministerial Meeting (AEMM5)
4–5 Jun 2012	Kazan, Russia	Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting
24–25 Jun 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	10th Energy Ministerial Meeting
27–28 Jun 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Mining
28–29 Jun 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	Senior Finance Officials Meeting
16–18 Jul 2012	Khabarovsk, Russia	Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Environment
23–24 Jul 2012	Khabarovsk, Russia	Tourism Ministerial Meeting
3 Aug 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting
6–8 Aug 2012	St. Petersburg, Russia	Telecommunications and Information Ministerial Meeting
28 Aug 2012	Moscow, Russia	Senior Finance Officials' Meeting
29 Aug 2012	Moscow, Russia	Finance and Central Bank Deputies' Meetings
30 Aug 2012	Moscow, Russia	Finance Ministerial Meeting
2–9 Sep 2012	Vladivostok, Russia	APEC 2012 Leaders Week

A full calendar of APEC events is available on APEC's official website.

Declarations and statements by APEC leaders and ministers

• The 19th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting Declaration, Honolulu, 12-13 November 2011
• APEC Ministerial Meeting Statement, Honolulu, 11 November 2011
• APEC Ministers’ Statement on the WTO, the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations, and Resisting Protectionism, Honolulu, 11 November 2011
• APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Disaster Resiliency, Honolulu, 11 November 2011
• APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Open Governance and Economic Growth, Honolulu, 11 November 2011

These can be viewed at APEC's official website.