16 Facts About APEC

APEC has three official observers: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretariat, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

APEC was initially inspired when ASEAN's series of post-ministerial conferences, launched in the mid-1980s, had demonstrated the feasibility and value of regular conferences among ministerial-level representatives of both developed and developing economies.

The APEC Secretariat, based in Singapore, was established to co-ordinate the activities of the organisation.

In 1995, APEC established a business advisory body named the APEC Business Advisory Council, composed of three business executives from each member's economy.

One result of this criterion is that membership of the forum includes Taiwan alongside People's Republic of China, as well as Hong Kong, which entered APEC as a British colony but it is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

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APEC includes three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.

India has requested membership in APEC, and received initial support from the United States, Japan, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

APEC's ideas convinced the APEC Business Advisory Council to support this concept.

In 1993, APEC Leaders decided to establish a network of APEC Study Centres among universities and research institutions in member economies.

Since its formation in 1989, APEC has held annual meetings with representatives from all member economies.

At the 2001 Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, APEC leaders pushed for a new round of trade negotiations and support for a program of trade capacity-building assistance, leading to the launch of the Doha Development Agenda a few weeks later.

APEC was captured in the city of Ayutthaya, Thailand by Thai police on 11 August 2003, before he could finish planning the attack.

Peaceful protests against APEC were staged in Busan, but the meeting schedule was not affected.

At the Leaders' Meeting held on 19 November 2006 in Hanoi, APEC leaders called for a new start to global free-trade negotiations while condemning terrorism and other threats to security.

APEC criticised North Korea for conducting a nuclear test and a missile test launch that year, urging the country to take "concrete and effective" steps toward nuclear disarmament.

APEC has been criticised for promoting free trade agreements that would impose restrictions on national and local laws, which regulate and ensure labour rights, environmental protection and safe and affordable access to medicine.