Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- APEC can also stand for Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
- APEC can also stand for Advanced Placement European Civilization
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a group of Pacific Rim countries who meet with the purpose of improving economic and political ties. The first meeting was held in Canberra, Australia from November 5 to November 7, 1989, at ministerial level. This meeting supposed the start of the organization. It holds annual meetings in each of the member countries and has standing committees on a wide range of issues, from communications to fisheries.
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. Because of pressure from the People's Republic of China, the leader of member economy Chinese Taipei, also known as the Republic of China, cannot attend the summit and must send a ministerial-level official in economical affairs as his/her envoy.
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History and development
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 headquarter is 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 cutting tariffs between zero to five percent in the Asia-Pacific area for industrialised 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 RCMP officers used pepper spray against protesters protesting against the presence of dictators such as Indonesia's president Suharto.
In the 2001 summit in Shanghai, APEC's push for a new trade Round and support for a program of trade capacity-building assistance 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 percent over 5 years, and pursue trade liberalization policies relating to information technology goods and services.
In 2003, Jemaah Islamiah head Riduan Isamuddin, a.k.a. 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.
Membership
APEC's 21 members by date of membership are:
APEC leaders annual summits
| number | date | country | place | official website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1993 November 19–November 20 | United States | Seattle | |
| II | 1994 November 15 | Indonesia | Bogor | |
| III | 1995 November 19 | Japan | Osaka | |
| IV | 1996 November 25 | Philippines | Manila | |
| V | 1997 November 24–November 25 | Canada | Vancouver | |
| VI | 1998 November 17–November 18 | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | |
| VII | 1999 September 12–September 13 | New Zealand | Auckland | |
| VIII | 2000 November 15–November 16 | Brunei Darussalam | Brunei | |
| IX | 2001 October 20–October 21 | People's Republic of China | Shanghai | |
| X | 2002 October 26–October 27 | Mexico | Los Cabos | |
| XI | 2003 October 20–October 21 | Thailand | Bangkok | |
| XII | 2004 November 20–November 21 | Chile | Santiago de Chile | http://www.apec2004.cl |
| XIII | 2005 November 18–November 19 | South Korea | Busan | http://www.apecbusan.org/eng/index.asp |
| XIV | 2006, November | Vietnam | Hanoi | |
| XV | 2007, November | Australia | Sydney | |
| XVI | 2008, November | Peru | Lima | |
| XVII | 2009, November | Singapore |
