APEC - A Multilateral Economic Forum

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) operates as a cooperative, multilateral economic and trade forum. It is the only international intergovernmental grouping in the world committed to reducing barriers to trade and investment without requiring its members to enter into legally binding obligations. APEC achieves its goals by promoting dialogue and arriving at decisions on a consensus basis, giving equal weight to the views of all members.

APEC member economies report progress towards achieving free and open trade and investment goals through Individual Action Plans (IAPs) and Collective Action Plans (CAPs).

Policy Level

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) policy direction is provided by the 21 APEC economic leaders. Strategic recommendations provided by APEC ministers and the APEC Business Advisory Council are considered by APEC economic leaders as part of this process.

The following meetings are conducted each year, which help shape APEC's policy direction. 

APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting

APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings are held once a year in the APEC host economy. Declarations from these meetings set the policy agenda for APEC.

APEC Ministerial Meeting

Annual APEC Ministerial Meetings of foreign and economic/trade ministers are held immediately prior to APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings. Ministers consider the year's activities and provide recommendations for APEC economic leaders' consideration.

Sectoral Ministerial Meetings

Sectoral Ministerial Meetings are held regularly covering areas such as education, energy, environment and sustainable development, finance, human resource development, regional science and technology cooperation, small and medium enterprises, telecommunications and information industry, tourism, trade, transportation and women's affairs.

Recommendations from these meetings are also provided to APEC economic leaders for their consideration.

APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC)

ABAC provides APEC economic leaders with a business perspective on APEC issues through an annual meeting and a formal report. The annual report contains recommendations to improve the business and investment environment in the APEC region. ABAC also meets four times per year and a representative attends ministerial meetings.

Working Level

APEC's working level activities and projects are guided by APEC senior officials from the 21 APEC member economies. These activities and projects are carried out by four high-level committees:

1. Committee on Trade and Investment
2. Senior Officials' Meeting Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation
3. Economic Committee
4. Budget and Management Committee

Sub-committees, experts' groups, working groups and task forces all support the activities and projects led by these four high-level committees.

Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM)
Working under direction from APEC ministers, senior officials guide the activities of the committees, working groups and task forces. Senior officials develop recommendations for APEC ministers and APEC economic leaders. SOMs are held three to four times a year with the chair from the host economy.

Committees, Working Groups, SOM Task Groups
A brief description of the committees, working groups and SOM task groups is given below. Additional information on the groups can be accessed via the APEC Groups link on this page.

Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)
The Committee on Trade and Investment coordinates APEC's work on the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. The CTI also works to reduce impediments to business activity through its sub-committees and experts' groups.

SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation
The SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation assists APEC senior officials in coordinating and managing APEC's economic and technical cooperation agenda, as well as identifying initiatives for cooperative action by member economies.

Economic Committee (EC)
The Economic Committee has a mandate to promote structural reform within APEC by undertaking policy analysis and action-oriented work. The EC progresses this mandate in close coordination with other relevant APEC groups; for instance, the Competition Policy and Law Group and the Finance Ministers' Process.

Budget and Management Committee (BMC)
The Budget and Management Committee advises the SOM on budgetary, administrative and managerial issues. The BMC also monitors and evaluates project management aspects of the operations of committees and working groups and makes recommendations to SOM for improved efficiency and effectiveness.

Working Groups
Working groups carry out APEC's work in specific sectors as directed by APEC economic leaders, APEC ministers, APEC sectoral ministers and senior officials.

SOM Special Task Groups/Ad-hoc Groups
Senior officials set Special Task Groups to identify issues and make recommendations about important areas for APEC's consideration. Ad-hoc groups have also been established in APEC to provide topical and relevant information or to fulfill important tasks not being covered by other groups.

Scope of Work

The 21 APEC member economies jointly work towards the realization of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2020 and the establishment of greater regional community to address the economic and social dimensions of development—a commitment made by APEC leaders in 1994 known as the Bogor Goals.

The three pillars of APEC's agenda focus on:

1. Trade and Investment Liberalization

APEC members take actions to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment that boosts job creation, incomes and growth. Collaboration is guided by APEC's Regional Economic Integration agenda and includes the advancement of bilateral and regional trade agreements and the long-term goal of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

2. Business Facilitation

APEC members pursue measures to reduce the time, cost and uncertainty of doing business in the region and open new economic opportunities including for small firms, women and youth. APEC's Structural Reform agenda supports the development and harmonization of policies that improve market access and efficiency, and uphold public interest such as the safeguarding of health and safety.

3. Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH)

ECOTECH builds the technical capacity of APEC's diverse members to promote trade, investment and robust, secure and sustainable economic growth that widely benefits the region's people. Priorities include strengthening anti-corruption, cross-border education and skills training, emergency preparedness, energy security, environmental protection, defense against pandemics and infrastructure development, among others

Funding 

APEC is not a donor organization. APEC activities are centrally funded by annual contributions from APEC member economies presently totaling USD5 million. These contributions are used to fund the APEC Secretariat in Singapore and various projects which support APEC's economic and trade goals.

Member economies also provide voluntary contributions to support projects that advance APEC's trade and investment liberalization and facilitation goals and to meet capacity-building needs, especially for APEC developing economies. In general, projects do the following:

• Relate to the priorities of APEC economic leaders and APEC ministers
• Cover the interest of at least several APEC member economies
• Build capacity
• Improve economic efficiency
• Encourage the participation of the business sector, nongovernmental institutions and women

The Project Database contains information about all APEC projects.

Member economies also provide considerable resources to assist the operation of APEC. These include the secondment of professional staff to the Secretariat; the hosting of meetings; and partial or full funding of some projects.