Backgrounder: General Introduction to APEC

A series of meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that would culminate in an informal APEC leaders' meeting were kicked off Monday in Shanghai. The following is a brief introduction to the Pacific Rim forum.

Name: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC for short.

Founding: Established in November 1989 at the proposal of former Australian prime minister Robert Hawke in Canberra, Australia, APEC was a forum for informal discussion between the six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- and their six Pacific Rim dialogue partners -- Australia, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Canada.

China's involvement: The People's Republic of China, Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China, since 1997) and Chinese Taipei joined APEC at the third APEC ministerial meeting held in South Korea in November 1991.

APEC objectives: To enhance the positive gains, both for the region and the world economy as a whole resulting from growing economic interdependence; to develop and strengthen the open multilateral trading system; and to reduce barriers to trade in goods and services and investment.

APEC principle: Cooperation among APEC members will be governed by the principle of "mutual benefit and a commitment to open dialogue and consensus-building, with equal respect for the views of all participants."

APEC members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong of China, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam.

APEC observers: the ASEAN Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

Setup: APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings (AELM), Ministerial Meetings, Senior Officials Meetings (SOM), Committees and the Secretariat.

Total areas of members: some 62,311.8 square kilometers.

Total population of members: 2,489.29 million in 2000.

Working Language: English

APEC budget: 3.86 million U.S. dollars in 1999.

Total GDP of member economies: Over 18 trillion US dollars in 1999.






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