The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was established in 1989. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC's 21 member Economies are the United States; Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China (PRC); Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Republic of Korea; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; and Viet Nam. APEC also assists member economies build the institutional capacity to implement and take advantage of the benefits of trade and investment reform. APEC supports the multilateral trade negotiations underway in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and complements the goals of the G-20 framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the Asia-Pacific Region. APEC members use a consensus-based model: no one in the group is forced to change their policies unless they want to. This means that APEC members rely heavily on the use of "peer pressure" when they want to meet certain self-imposed targets. APEC is formed by Business Advisory Council (ABAC) with the aim of providing advice to the APEC Economic Leaders on ways to achieve goals and other specific business sector priorities, and to provide the business perspective on specific areas of cooperation.

Editor: Giovanni AVERSA