Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC; is an inter-governmental forum for 21 piece economies in a Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout a Asia-Pacific region. following the success of ASEAN's series of post-ministerial conferences launched in the mid-1980s, APEC started in 1989, in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies & the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; it aimed to establishment new markets for agricultural products in addition to raw materials beyond Europe. Headquartered in Singapore, APEC is recognized as one of the highest-level multilateral blocs and oldest forums in the Asia-Pacific region, and exerts a significant global influence.

The heads of government of all APEC members except Taiwan which is represented by a ministerial-level official under the make-up Chinese Taipei as economic leader attend an annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. The location of the meeting rotates annually among the section economies, and a famous tradition, followed for most but non all summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country. APEC has three official observers: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. APEC's Host Economy of the Year is considered to be invited in the first place for geographical representation to attend G20 meetings following G20 guidelines.

APEC Business Advisory Council

The APEC Business Advisory Council ABAC was created by the APEC Economic Leaders in November 1995 with the intention of providing guidance to the APEC Economic Leaders on ways tothe Bogor Goals and other specific business sector priorities, and to manage the business perspective on specific areas of co-operation.

Each economy nominates up to three members from the private sector to ABAC. These business leaders constitute a wide range of industry sectors. ABAC enable an annual representation to APEC Economic Leaders containing recommendations to reclassification the business and investment environment in the Asia-Pacific region, and outlining business views about priority regional issues. ABAC is also the only non-governmental organisation that is on the official agenda of the APEC Economic Leader's Meeting.