Asia-Pacific Economic Community

This article covers the APEC organization. For the APEC computer series, see All Purpose Electronic X-Ray Computer .

Asia-Pacific Economic Community APEC
APEC members
Organization type	Forum
Member States	21st
founding	1989, Canberra
www.apec.org

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (for English Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation , shortly APEC , also translated as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or Asia-Pacific Forum ) is an international organization that has set itself the goal, in the Pacific region a free trade area set up .

Almost half of the world's population lives in the 21 APEC countries . The economic area generates more than half of the world's economic output and is one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world.

history

November 20, 2004, Santiago de Chile : Vladimir Putin welcomes Colin Powell at the APEC summit, right: Stephen Hadley , left: George W. Bush

In 1989 - on the initiative of Australia, Japan and the USA - twelve countries founded APEC. In the first few years, only high-level ministry officials attended the annual meetings; the heads of government of the member states have been meeting since 1993. These meetings are called "Leaders' Meetings" and not the usual "summit" (summit).

At APEC level, numerous political - not just economic - issues have been and are being discussed. B. Future technologies, education , women , youth and the fight against international terrorism .

In 1994 in Bogor , Indonesia , the goal of establishing a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region for the industrialized nations by 2010 and for the developing countries by 2020 was drawn up. To promote this goal, the member states have drawn up national action plans. The results are reviewed in the form of annual progress reports at the summit meetings.

From 1997 onwards, no new members were accepted for ten years. This period should serve to consolidate the cooperation.

Principles

APEC operates on the basis of non-binding agreements. All decisions of the forum are made by consensus . Since 2002 , bilateral or multilateral agreements with one another have also been permitted. The agreements must conform to the rules of the WTO . Apec members have signed more than 40 such agreements so far.

The APEC budget is relatively small. It amounts to just under 3.5 million US dollars per year, which is raised through membership fees of the APEC states. Japan alone is investing more money (3 to 4 million US dollars annually) in a special liberalization fund of the organization.

The meetings at APEC level are always accompanied by guests and observers. These include representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and other stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The APEC is also used as an opportunity to discuss the North Korea problem behind closed doors.

Meeting 2018 without a final declaration

The host of the country Papua New Guinea, Peter O'Neill , blamed China and the United States for ensuring that no joint final declaration was reached in 2018. "That's because there are two big giants in the room," he said. One of the disputed points was the question of reforms for the World Trade Organization ( WTO) . Justin Trudeau from Canada spoke more generally of different views on international trade.

Members

APEC members	Member since
Australia	1989
Brunei	1989
Canada	1989
Indonesia	1989
Japan	1989
South Korea	1989
Malaysia	1989
New Zealand	1989
Philippines	1989
Singapore	1989
Thailand	1989
United States	1989
Chinese Taipei	1991
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, British Crown Colony until June 1997	1991 (1997)
People's Republic of China	1991
Mexico	1993
Papua New Guinea	1993
Chile	1994
Peru	1998
Russia	1998
Vietnam	1998

APEC Leaders' Meetings

APEC Summit

	date	Host	place	photo
1.	November 7, 1989	Australia	Canberra
2.	29.-31. July 1990	Singapore	Singapore
3.	12-14 November 1991	South Korea	Seoul
4th	10-11 September 1992	Thailand	Bangkok
5.	19. – 20. November 1993	United States	Seattle
6th	November 15, 1994	Indonesia	Bogor
7th	November 19, 1995	Japan	Osaka
8th.	November 25, 1996	Philippines	Manila and Subic
9.	24.-25. November 1997	Canada	Vancouver
10.	17.-18. November 1998	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur
11.	12-13 September 1999	New Zealand	Auckland
12.	15.-16. November 2000	Brunei	Brunei
13.	20-21 October 2001	People's Republic of China	Shanghai
14th	26.-17. October 2002	Mexico	Los Cabos
15th	20-21 October 2003	Thailand	Bangkok
16.	20-21 November 2004	Chile	Santiago de Chile
17th	18. – 19. November 2005	South Korea	Busan
18th	18. – 19. November 2006	Vietnam	Hanoi
19th	8th-9th September 2007	Australia	Sydney
20th	22-23 November 2008	Peru	Lima
21st	14.-15. November 2009	Singapore	Singapore
22nd	13-14 November 2010	Japan	Yokohama
23.	12-13 November 2011	United States	Honolulu
24.	2-9 September 2012	Russia	Vladivostok
25th	5th-7th October 2013	Indonesia	Bali
26th	7-12 November 2014	People's Republic of China	Beijing
27.	18. – 19. November 2015	Philippines	Manila
28.	19. – 20. November 2016	Peru	Lima
29	10-11 November 2017	Vietnam	Đà Nẵng
30th	17.-18. November 2018	Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby

literature

• Patrick Ziltener (2005): "Pacific Drift - The APEC between Bi- and Multilateralism", in: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik , 12, pp. 1465–1474.

Web links

Commons : Asia-Pacific Economic Community  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the organization
• Database of literature on the social, political and economic situation in the countries of the APEC
• Documentation of some protests against APEC
• Contribution to Deutsche Welle about the APEC summit 2003 in Bangkok
• Australia's hosting site for the 19th September 2007 Summit

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source , WirtschaftsWoche , November 18, 2018
2. ↑ Due to the complex political relations with the People's Republic of China , the Republic of China does not appear on Taiwan in the APEC under its official name, but as "Chinese Taipei". In addition, it is not represented by its President , but usually by a representative from the environment of the Ministry of Economic Affairs or the President.
3. ↑ 2017 Leaders' Declaration. Accessed February 26, 2018 (English).