APEC – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) is an economic bloc formed by 21 members.
APEC was founded in 1993 and aims to create a free trade area among its members.
What is?
APEC is an economic bloc whose main objective is to support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Pacific region.
It also works in defense of free and open trade and investment, promoting acceleration and regional economic integration.
The cooperation process aims to create, in the long term, a free trade area between the member countries of the bloc. For this, they promote:
- trade liberalization and integration of member countries' economies;
- facilitate business and investment by reducing trade and customs fees;
- technical and economic cooperation that will enable countries to transition to a free-market economy.
Member Countries
The 21 APEC member countries are:
- Australia
- Brunei
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Singapore
- South Korea
- U.S
- Philippines
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Papua New Guinea
- Peru
- Russia
- Thailand
- Taiwan
- Vietnam
Economic data
Below are some figures about the population, trade and GDP of the APEC countries*:
| Population | 2,559,3 million inhabitants |
|---|---|
| GDP | US$ 18,589.2 trillion |
| Export | $2,891.4 trillion |
| Import | $3,094.5 trillion |
*Data from 2012.
Origin
The idea of creating a regional economic bloc of countries bordering the Pacific came from the former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke (1983-1991).
In January 1989, in South Korea, at a meeting between the countries of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), he proposed to expand this association.
That same year, 12 economies from the region got together in Canberra, Australia and founded APEC. In 1993, former US President Bill Clinton established the practice of an annual meeting of the bloc's members.
There is no formal treaty between these countries and decisions are taken by consensus and based on non-binding declarations. The General Secretariat is located in Singapore and is responsible for coordinating the other secretariats and branches.
Meetings between member countries are held annually and each country takes turns hosting this meeting.
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