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| Membership | 21 member economies |
| Seat of Secretariat | Singapore |
| Official website | http://www.apec.org |
The heads of government of all APEC members 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.
Membership
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 and North Korea in Asia
- the Pacific Islands, such as Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.
APEC's 21 members by date of membership are the following:
| Founding members, November 1989: |
Notes
India has requested for an entry into this grouping. Earlier it was strongly opposed to, but given the country's new found economic clout and US 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.
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 US, 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.
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.
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.
APEC annual meetings
See also
External links
Coperazión Economica de l'Asia-Pazifico | A-chiu Thài-pêng-iûⁿ Keng-chè Ha̍p-chok Hōe | Cooperació Econòmica de l'Àsia-Pacífic | APEC | APEC | Cooperación Económica del Asia-Pacífico | Coopération Économique Asie-Pacifique | 아시아 태평양 경제협력체 | Kerja Sama Ekonomi Asia Pasifik | Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation | APEC | アジア太平洋経済協力会議 | APEC | APEC | APEC | Азиатско-Тихоокеанское экономическое сотрудничество | ความร่วมมือทางเศรษฐกิจเอเชีย-แปซิฟิก | Diễn đàn Hợp tác Kinh tế châu Á - Thái Bình Dương | 亚洲太平洋经济合作组织
"Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation"