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APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation，or APEC，is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth，cooperation，trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region．

APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments，open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants．Unlike theWTOor othermultilateral trade bodies，APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants．Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis．

APEC has 21 members—referred to as“Member Economies”—which accountfor approximately 40.5%of the world's population，approximately 54.2%of world GDP and about 43.7%of world trade．

APEC's 21 Member Economies are Australia，Brunei Darussalam，Canada，Chile，People's Republic of China，Chinese Hong Kong，Indonesia，Japan，Republic of Korea，Malaysia，Mexico，NewZealand，Papua NewGuinea，Peru，The Republic of the Philippines，The Russian Federation，Singapore，Chinese Taipei，Thailand，United States of America，Viet Nam．

The idea of APEC was firstly publicly broached by former Prime Minister of Australia，Mr Bob Hawke，during a speech in Seoul，Korea in January 1989．Later that year，12 Asia-Pacific economiesmet in Canberra，Australia to establish APEC．The founding members were:Australia，Brunei Darussalam，Canada，Indonesia，Japan，Korea，Malaysia，New Zealand，the Philippines，Singapore，Thailand and the United States．

Chinese Hong Kong，China and Chinese Taipei joined in 1991．Mexico and Papua NewGuinea followed in 1993．Chile acceded in 1994．And in 1998，Peru，Russia and Viet Namjoined，taking the fullmembership to 21．

Between 1989 and 1992，APEC met as an informal senior official and Ministerial level dialogue．In 1993，former United States President，Mr Bill Clinton，established the practice of an annual APECEconomic Leaders'Meeting．

Amoratoriumon newmembership stands until the end of 2010，at which point APECmember economies will consider whether or not to lift the moratorium．Purpose and Goals

APEC was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community．

Since its inception，APEC has worked to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers across the Asia-Pacific region，creating efficient domestic economies and dramatically increasing exports．Key to achieving APEC's vision are what are referred to as the“Bogor Goals”of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies．These goals were adopted by Leaders at their 1994 meeting in Bogor，Indonesia．

Free and open trade and investment helps economies to grow，creates jobs and provides greater opportunities for international trade and investment．In contrast，protectionismkeeps prices high and fosters inefficiencies in certain industries．Free and open trade helps to lower the costs of production and thus reduces the prices of goods and services—a direct benefit to all．

APEC also works to create an environment for the safe and efficientmovement of goods，services and people across borders in the region through policy alignment and economic and technical cooperation．Achievements and Benefits

The Asia-Pacific region has consistently been the most economically dynamic region in the world．Since APEC's inception in 1989，APEC's total trade has grown 395%，significantly outpacing the rest of the world．In the same period，GDP(in purchasing power parity terms)in the APEC region has tripled，while GDP in the rest of the world has less than doubled．

APEC's work under its three main pillars of activity，Trade and Investment Liberalisation，Business Facilitation and Economic and Technical Cooperation，has helped drive this economic growth and improve employment opportunities and standards of living for the citizens of the region．

1．Trade and Investment Liberalisation

●　APEC is the premier forum for trade and investment liberalisation in the Asia-Pacific and has set targets dates for“free and open trade”:no later than the year 2010 for industrialised economies，and 2020 for developing economies(the Bogor Goals)．

●　When APEC was established in 1989 average trade barriers in the region stood at16.9%;by 2004 barriers had been reduced by approximately 70% to 5.5%．

●　As a consequence，intra-APECmerchandise trade(exports and imports) has grown fromUS$1.7 trillion in 1989 to US$8.44 trillion in 2007—an average increase of 8.5%per year;and merchandise trade within the region accounted for 67%of APEC's totalmerchandise trade in 2007．

●　Similarly，trade with the rest of the world has increased fromUS$3 trillion in 1989 to US$15 trillion in 2007，an average increase of 8.3%per year．Trade in the rest of the world has increased at7.6%over the same period．

●　Over 30 bilateral free trade agreements(FTAs)have been concluded between APECMember Economies．

●　APEC is also pursuing trade and investment liberalisation through its

Regional Economic Integration agenda．Progress to date includes:

○Investigating the prospects of and options for a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific．

○The development of 15 modelmeasures for RTAs/FTAs that serve as a reference for APEC members to achieve comprehensive and highquality agreements．

APEC has also acted as a catalyst in the advancement of World Trade Organisation multilateral trade negotiations over the past20 years．

2．Business Facilitation

●　As a resultof the APECTrade Facilitation Action Plan(TFAP I)the costof business transactions across the region was reduced by 5%between 2002 and 2006．

●　A second trade facilitation action plan(TFAP II)，aims to reduce transaction costs by a further 5%between 2007 and 2010．

●　APEC initiatives that help facilitate trade include:

○The introduction of electronic/paperless systems by all member economies，covering the payment of duties，and customs and traderelated document processing．

○The Single Window Strategic Plan，adopted in 2007，provides a framework for the development of Single Window systems which will allow importers and exporters to submit information to government once，instead of to multiple government agencies，through a single entry point．

○Providing business with a concise one-stop repository of customs and trade facilitation related information for all APEC economies through the APECCustoms and Trade Facilitation Handbook

○The APEC Tariff Database provides users with easy access to APEC member economies'tariff schedules，concessions，prohibitions and other information．

●　In 2008，a groundbreaking Investment Facilitation Action Plan was endorsed;it aims to improve the investment environment in Member Economies．

●　The APEC Privacy Framework provides guidance and direction to both APEC Member Economies and businesses on implementing information privacy protection policies and procedures．By facilitating information flows it will facilitate trade and e-commerce．

●　The APECBusiness Travel Card(ABTC)provides substantial time and cost savings to business people and facilitates their travel in the region，by allowing visa free travel and express lane transit at airports in participating economies．

●　APEC is also removing behind-the-border barriers to trade through its Structural Reformagenda，which focuses on reforming domestic policies and institutions that adversely affect the operation of markets，and the capacity of businesses to accessmarkets and to operate efficiently．

3．Economic and Technical Cooperation

●　APEC's Economic and Technical Cooperation(ECOTECH)activities are designed to build capacity and skills in APECMember Economies at both the individual and institutional level，to enable them to participate more fully in the regional economy and the liberalisation process．

●　Since APEC first began to undertake capacity building work in 1993，more than 1，200 projects have been initiated;and in 2008，APEC was implementing a total of 212 capacity building projects with a total value of US$13.5m．

●　A particular focus has been reducing the digital divide between developed and developing economies:

○In 2000，APEC set a goal of tripling internet usage in the region and that goal has now been achieved，as recognised by the 2008 APEC Ministerial Meeting on the Telecommunications and Information Industry．APEC's new goal is to achieve universal access to broadband by 2015．

○A network of 41 APEC Digital Opportunity Centers(ADOC)now operate in seven Member Economies．ADOC's objective is to transform the digital divide into digital opportunities and the centres act as local information and communication technology(ICT)resource centres，providing citizens and businesses of the region with access to ICT technologies，education and training．

APEC is also developing a Digital Prosperity Checklist that outlines specific steps economies can take to enable them to utilise ICT as catalysts for growth and development．