Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Established in January 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a regional economic, trade and business forum, consisted of 21 States of the Asian-Pacific region. Its meetings are conducted on an intergovernmental ministerial level, in order to implement the growing financial independence of the Asia-Pacific. Said objective includes sustainable, innovative and secure procedures, which facilitate the economic stability, integration and cooperation between the Member States.

There are four respective committees which assist APEC in its procedures, namely the Committee on Trade and Investment, the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation, the Economic Committee and the Budget and Management Committee. They are responsible for providing policy recommendations to the annual meetings of the APEC Leaders and Ministers, so they can form the annual goals and initiatives of the organization.

Discussions inside APEC are conducted on a basis of open dialogue and equality of opinions, and decision-making is reached through consensus. Each year, one Member State hosts and chairs the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, and is responsible for the organization of the rest of the meetings of the forum. APEC welcomes also three observes, namely the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, providing guidance and support to the objectives of the organization.

The topics to be discussed are: