Review of APEC

APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), founded in Canberra, Australia, in November 1989. When APEC was first established, it had 12 members, namely, Australia, United States of America, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Republic of Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

China acceded in APEC in November 1991, and Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong, China also acceded in as member economies at the same time, which made the membership of the APEC total fifteen. Chile, Mexico, Peru, Papua New Guinea, the Russian Federation, and Vietnam entered APEC in the following years, increasing the number of member economies to twenty-one altogether. The purposes and goals of APEC are mutual respect, multilateral cooperation, equality and mutual benefit, mutual openness, and common prosperity.

Four Milestones in APEC history:

In November 1993, the first IAELM (Informal APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings) was held in Seattle, and APEC Leaders Economic Vision Statement was issued during the conference, which asserted that an open multilateral trade regime is the cornerstone of the development of Asia-pacific region.

In November 1994, the second IAELM was held in Bogor, Indonesia, passing the APEC Economic Leaders Declaration of Common Resolve, which proposed that the developed member economies and the developing member economies to realize free trade and investment by 2010 and 2020 respectively.

In November 1995, the third IAELM was held in Osaka, Japan, and the main topic of that conference was on how to implement the Bogor Declaration into specific actions.

In October 2001, the ninth IAELM was held in Shanghai, China, and the conference adopted Shanghai Accord, proposing economic and trade globalization and digital APEC strategy.

The APEC has 21 member economies so far, with 45% of the total population in the world, 55% of the world GDP, and 46% of the trade volume. The APEC has not only played a significant role in global economic activities, but has also become the most important regional inter-governmental economic cooperation group in Asia-pacific region.