The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific. It aim to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration. One of the major functions of APEC is to enhance social equity in the region.
APEC member countries consists of around 2.8 billion people and represents approximately 59 per cent of world GDP and 49 per cent of world trade in 2015.
Members of APEC
APEC has 21 members. These are:
- Australia
- Brunei Darussalam
- Canada
- Chile
- People’s Republic of China
- Hong Kong, China
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Papua New Guinea
- Peru
- The Philippines
- Russia
- Singapore
- Chinese Taipei
- Thailand
- The United States
- Viet Nam
APEC Secretariat
The APEC Secretariat is based in Singapore. The APEC Secretariat is headed by an Executive Director, Dr Tan Sri Datuk Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria. Dr Sta Maria is the first woman executive director of the APEC Secretariat.
Functions of APEC
The functions of APEC include:
- To enhance social equity in the region
- It helps to improve the competitiveness of SME by promoting entrepreneurship and innovation by connecting technology start-ups with funding and mentors
- To reduce non-renewable energy in the region and to work toward doubling the share of renewable energy by 2030.
- To improve logistics and transport networks to enable component parts and final goods to travel across multiple borders, contributing to a more efficient regional supply chain.
- To connect the region through improving physical infrastructure linkages, people mobility and institutional ties across the Asia-Pacific.
- To foster transparency, competition and better functioning markets in the Asia-Pacific through regulatory reform, improving public sector and corporate governance, and strengthening the legal infrastructure.
- Improved the ease of doing business in the Asia-Pacific
- Making it Easier to Trade Across Borders
- To promoting trade and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific
APEC Ministerial Meeting
Every year one of the 21 APEC Member Economies plays host to APEC meetings and serves as the APEC Chair. The APEC host economy is responsible for chairing the annual Economic Leaders’ Meeting, selected ministerial meetings, senior officials’ meetings, the APEC Business Advisory Council and the APEC Study Centers Consortium.
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