by Peter Koenig, Global Research:
Background
For the third time, Peru will host the APEC Summit in Lima from 13-15 November 2024, bringing together over 1,000 international executives. Peru previously hosted the APEC Summit in 2008 and 2016. This is the 34th APEC Conference. APEC was created in 1989, and APEC Summits are held annually.
The theme for the 2024 APEC meeting is Empower, Include, Grow.
The 2025 (March 16-20) APEC Summit will be hosted by the United States, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Expectation
Mr. Fernando Zavala, from Peru, will chair APEC 2024; he highlighted that APEC 2024 is a unique opportunity to give a fresh impetus to the Peruvian free trade agenda, the urgent attraction of private investments, and economic growth.
Image: Fernando Zavala (Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
There is a possibility that closer relations between APEC members and the new BRICS-plus (currently 10 members) might be sought. Current APEC members may aspire to become BRICS-plus members. Russia is hosting this year’s BRICS-plus Summit in Kazan, from October 22-24, 2024.
Mr. Zavala, the APEC 2024 Chair, is currently CEO of Intercorp, a Peruvian business conglomerate and consultant for Big Finance. Mr. Zavala is a former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Peru.
What Is APEC?
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum of 21 Asia-Pacific economies. They include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Republic of the Philippines, The Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.
APEC’s member economies are home to more than 2.9 billion people and make up over 60 per cent of global GDP, i.e. about US$ 66 trillion (2024 estimate), and close to 50% of world trade.
The APEC forum was established in 1989 by Australia in Canberra. APEC began as an informal ministerial-level dialogue group with 12 founding members: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
China became a member two years later, in November 1991, some 33 years ago. Today, APEC partners account for more than 60% of China’s trade.
In the case of Australia, APEC’s founder, APEC partners make up around 75 per cent of Australia’s total trade in goods and services. Closer regional economic integration contributes to Australian economic growth and prosperity.
Other APEC countries may have similar success stories as far as their trade relations and trade growth is concerned, thanks to APEC.
Since its creation, APEC has become the pre-eminent economic forum in the Asia-Pacific region. Its primary purpose and objective is promoting sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific area.
Present among the APEC participants in Lima, will be a myriad of commercial and political entities, including execs from JP Morgan and other top Wall Street bankers, as well as the head of the IMF, Dr. Kristalina Georgieva, and Klaus Schwab, former chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) – and many other international personalities, likely also from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. This is an indication that APEC is ever-growing in international importance for both free-trade and investments.
Vision
The APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 was adopted by APEC Leaders in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2020. It set out a new mission statement for APEC for the next 20 years. Putrajaya is a city with a population of about 120,000, less than 40 km south of Kuala Lumpur, belonging to the Malaysia Federal Territory, and is also the seat of the Prime Minister’s Office, which explains the name, Putrajaya, for the vision approved by the 2020 APEC Summit.
