Alex GoodmanAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), founded in 1989 to advance free trade, sustainable development, and economic integration in the Pacific Rim, is a crucial platform for its 21 member states.
As a result of the increasing interconnectedness of regional economies, APEC places a strong emphasis on streamlining cross border trade in products, services, capital, and labor.
This article explores the organization’s goals, those of its member nations, and those of the many subgroups formed to address particular problems and advance policy development.
In a Nutshell
- The primary goals of APEC when it was founded in 1989 were to advance free trade and sustainable development throughout the Pacific Rim.
- There are 21 economies in APEC, including significant countries like the US, China, Japan, and Australia.
- Since APEC is more interested in business and trade issues than in international relations, its members are referred to as “economies” rather than “states.”
- For the establishment of free trade and investment regimes across the region, the organization has set high targets.
- In depth topics including gender equality, intellectual property rights, and disaster preparedness are the focus of APEC subgroups.
Understanding Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
APEC’s main objective is to ensure that goods, services, capital and labor can move easily across borders. This includes increasing customs efficiency at borders, fostering favorable business climates within member economies, and harmonizing regulations and policies across the region.
The creation of APEC was primarily a response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies. The formation of APEC was framed by the proliferation of regional economic blocs at the end of the 20th century, such as the European Union (EU) and the (now defunct) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The future of trade lies in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC plays a crucial role in ensuring this trade is free, fair, and beneficial for all.
Robert Zoellick, Former President of the World Bank
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Member Countries
APEC’s founding members were Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. Since its creation, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam have joined its ranks.
APEC refers to its members as economies rather than states because of its focus on trade and economic issues rather than the sometimes sensitive diplomatic issues in the region, including the status of Taiwan and Hong Kong. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) refuses to recognize Taiwan because it claims the island as a province under its constitution. Hong Kong, on the other hand, functions as a semi autonomous region of China and not as a sovereign state.
Official APEC observers include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
Advertisement
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Actions and Objectives
At a landmark summit in 1994, APEC announced the ambitious goal of establishing free trade and investment regimes in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for members with developed economies. The group hoped to achieve the same goals for its members with developing economies by 2020.
APEC provides funding for approximately 100 projects per year, with about USD 15.4 million available in 2018.In 1995, APEC adopted the Osaka Action Agenda, a program designed to facilitate business activities, liberalize trade and investment, and promote economic and technical cooperation.
Progress on these efforts has slowed somewhat, however, due to APEC’s culture of making all decisions by consensus. Although some decisions are made unanimously, they are not legally binding on member governments.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Subgroups
APEC maintains a policy support unit that provides research and analysis in support of the organization’s objectives for the region, as well as special working groups to explore and promote various economic development issues and components. These groups are dedicated to multiple micro causes whose goal is to advance policy and awareness. Examples of these subgroups include:
- Gender Issues: APEC is sponsoring a policy partnership on women and the economy to advance women’s economic integration. An estimated 600 million women make up the region’s workforce.
- Intellectual Property Rights: The APEC Expert Group on Intellectual Property Rights (EGIPR) studies and exchanges information on the implementation of intellectual property rights protection in the region. Promotes and facilitates cooperation to implement the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG) promotes business resilience, public private partnerships and information sharing among members to help build the region’s capacity to cope with emergencies and natural disasters. Economies along the geologically and climatologically active Pacific Rim are subject to events such as tsunamis, typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Wrap Up
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an essential forum for fostering economic development and integration in the Pacific Rim, to sum up. APEC aims to promote free trade, sustainable development, and the seamless flow of goods, services, capital, and labor across borders as a forum for its 21 member nations.
FAQs
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was created in 1989.
There are 21 economies in APEC.
APEC’s main objective is to promote free trade and sustainable development in the Pacific Rim.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) calls its participants “economies” because it prioritizes trade and economic issues over diplomatic ones.
Yes, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has a number of working groups that focus on certain problems including emergency preparedness, gender equality, and intellectual property rights.
Article sources
At Capital Maniacs, we are committed to providing accurate and reliable information on a wide range of financial topics. In order to achieve this, we rely on the use of primary sources and corroborated secondary sources to support the content of our articles.
Primary sources, such as financial statements and government reports, provide firsthand evidence of financial events and trends. By using primary sources, we are able to directly reference information provided by the organizations and individuals involved in these events.
Secondary sources, such as financial analysis and commentary, interpret and analyze primary sources. While these sources can be useful for providing context and background information, it is important to use corroborated sources in order to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information we present.
We take pride in properly citing all of our sources, both primary and secondary, in order to give credit to the original authors and to allow our readers to verify the information for themselves. We appreciate your trust in our website and are committed to upholding the highest standards of financial journalism.
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – About APEC
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – 1994 Leaders’ Declaration
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – Projects – 2020
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – Action Plans
- Asia-Pacific Economic Development – Policy Support Unit
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – Intellectual Property Rights Expert Group
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – Emergency Preparedness Working Group
