The Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum is a regional, multilateral institution dedicated to trade and investment liberalization. The eighteen members of APEC are:

Australia Mexico Brunei New Zealand

Canada Papua New Guinea China Philippines

Hong Kong Singapore Indonesia Chinese Taipei

Japan Thailand South Korea United States

Malaysia Chile (November 1994)

The Region

With a population of two billion people, the Asia–Pacific region accounts for almost half of the world's population. The region has a combined gross national product (GNP) of more than US$15 trillion and contains the three largest economies in the world. The trade-driven economies of the region have the world's largest pool of savings, the most advanced technologies and the fastest growing markets. Just as the Western Hemisphere displaced Europe in economic importance in the twentieth century, the centre is shifting again, now to the Asia–Pacific region. That is why so many experts believe the twenty-first century will be the “Pacific Century”.

History of APEC

The idea of a Pacific economic organization has been around at least since the 1960s. Over the years, academicians in the United States, Japan and Australia promoted the idea. The Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) and the Pacific Economic Co-operation Council (PECC) were precursors in the non-governmental sector. In November 1989, at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, trade and foreign ministers met in Canberra and created the Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) group. The original members of the APEC forum included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

Owing to concern about the lack of progress in the GATT Uruguay trade negotiations and the growing interdependence of the economies of the Asia–Pacific, the new organization was formed to better co-ordinate economics and trade among the economies in the region. There was a degree of skepticism on the part of some of the Southeast Asian participants at Canberra who feared that the new grouping would eclipse their own organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). They were also afraid that they would be overwhelmed by the giant economies in APEC.