Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Logo
APEC member economies shown in green.
Headquarters	Singapore
Type	Economic meeting
Membership	Australia  Brunei  Canada  Chile  People's Republic of China  Republic of China (Taiwan) （Name as Chinese Taipei in APEC）  Hong Kong  Indonesia  Japan  South Korea  Malaysia  Mexico  New Zealand  Peru  Philippines  Papua New Guinea  Russia  Singapore  Thailand  United States  Vietnam
Leaders
• APEC Host Economy 2017	Vietnam
• Executive Director	Alan Bollard
Establishment	1989
Website www.apec.org

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; to defuse fears that highly industrialised Japan (a member of G8) would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.

An annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is attended by the heads of government of all APEC members except Taiwan (which is represented by a ministerial-level official under the name Chinese Taipei as economic leader). The location of the meeting rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition, followed for most (but not all) summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country.

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 of Canberra in November, chaired by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans. Attended by ministers from twelve countries, the meeting concluded with commitments for future annual meetings in Singapore and Korea.

Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opposed the initial proposal, instead proposing the East Asia Economic Caucus which would exclude non-Asian countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This plan was opposed because of the member countries in the America Region, and strongly criticized by Japan and the United States.