APEC - decoding. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation: List of countries

In the world there are only a few organizations of an international and regional type, in which the business sector plays a central role. One of such organizations is APEC. The interpretation of the abbreviation sounds like Asia-Pacific economic cooperation.

History of creation

The unification of APEC began its existence in 1989. The state-founders of the association had an identical desire to raise the standard of living in the Asia-Pacific region by stimulating the economy and strengthening trade.

The program was initiated by the sectoral and trade negotiations. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation includes 21 states. This is Australia and Brunei, Vietnam and Hong Kong, Indonesia with Canada, China and the Republic of Korea, Malaysia with Mexico, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Peru and Russia, Singapore and the United States, Thailand and Taiwan, the Philippines, as well as Chile and Japan.

After Russia, Peru and Vietnam were included in the list of countries-participants of the association (in 1997), the community introduced a 10-year moratorium on the prospective expansion of the list of members of the community.

Origins of the formation of the association

The unification of APEC, the decoding of which sounds like the Asia-Pacific Economic Community, was initially considered not as an association of states, but as a tandem of economies. The organization was originally aimed at addressing not political, but exclusively economic issues. APEC was formed as a forum that had no organizational structure and behind which there was no bureaucratic apparatus. Even today, the secretariat of the association, located in Singapore, includes 23 diplomats. Each of the representatives was selected by the participating economies of the project. The secretariat also employs 20 local employees. In comparison with the WTO, APEC, the interpretation of which is given above, is not based on the rules for the formation of organizations that provide for the authority to enforce the law in the event of trade disputes.

Specificity of partnership

The specificity of the job is to consult and strive to reach a consensus. The process of partnership between states is based on an open exchange of information between countries and the public. The community is based on collective and individual action plans created by the participants in the association, which help to achieve the goal of each state. The plans include detailed data on 15 sectors of activity. Among them are tariffs and non-tariffed measures, services and investments, standards and conformity, customs processes and protection of intellectual property rights, competitive policies and government orders, product release rules and direct mediation in disputes, business mobility, information gathering and concentration.

The global role of APEC

Asia-Pacific economic cooperation covers about 40% of the population. The total GDP of all member countries exceeds the figure of 16 trillion dollars, which corresponds to 60% of world GDP. APEC leaders have become the main instrument for promoting open trade and initiating economic cooperation in the region. Participating countries account for at least 42% of total world trade. The role of the group over the past 20 years has grown very much. Now the community members are active:

• Liberalize trade;
• Promote any kind of business ;
• Provide mutually beneficial economic and technical partnership;
• Deal with issues of youth and women.

General ideas and preferences

APEC, the decoding of which has already been given above, is based on the assertion that business is the basis of work, and to achieve success, it must be stimulated. At the first stages of the community's work, systematic consultations were held with the best representatives of the business segment in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 1995, it was decided to establish a Business Advisory Council, which became the key organ of the work of the whole community. All APEC member countries have appointed to the council at least 3 people who could express the interests of national business. The annual summits of the DCS are designed to ensure that representatives of the states present consolidated recommendations in the following issues:

• Implementation of the program documentation of the community, which is related to the liberalization of not only the trade but also the investment regime;
• Development of economic and technical partnership;
• The identification of the position of the community in relation to the problems of entrepreneurial activity.

Each of the reports is not formed separately by each state, but with close cooperation with experts from state structures.

The first effective steps

APEC, whose list of countries is constantly replenished, the first productive decisions were made in 1990-2000. The accent was made on simplification of visa formalities for businessmen of the economies of the member states of the association. Reduced barriers to the free movement of not only goods, but also investment. Stimulated expansion of strategic initiatives in the field of business partnership. The BAC Task Force began active measures to integrate material standards acceptable to the international community. Efforts have been made to build capacity and strengthen the financial system at the international level.

The task force of experts within the community is working hard to activate e-commerce. A set of measures was developed to reduce the "digital divide" between APEC economies. The list of countries-participants of the association allows you to see how different was the level of integration of virtual technologies in the business sphere from different countries. Today this problem has been completely solved.

The first summit in Russia

In May 2001, the first meeting was held in Moscow within the framework of the APEC Forum. It was attended by 100 representatives of the business elite of the APR. Russia, for its part, initiated the creation of the "APEC Business Club", which includes more than 50 large-scale domestic firms and banks, which in their activities are oriented to the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the Russian president, the country intends to take an active part in the development of the community, including the adaptation of the legal framework of the country with the parallel development of democracy. The government of a great state is well aware that within the framework of a dynamically developing trading region it has excellent perspectives for prosperity.

2014 Summit in Beijing

The last APEC summit was held in November 2014 in Beijing. The outcome of the negotiations was a 24-page declaration. The leaders of the participating states decided to engage in stimulation of entrepreneurial activity and continue to actively work towards the rejection of protectionism.

The APEC summit in Beijing became the basis for the participants of the union to continue the struggle against the fragmentation of regional trade. The community aimed at developing Internet finance. Moreover, a virtually unanimous agreement was reached on the development of partnerships with African states, which in future should prevent the spread of the Ebola epidemic.

The APEC summit in Beijing was focused on resolving the issue of development during the crisis period. The emphasis was placed on the fact that each country should independently seek the driving forces for its economy.