APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

APEC (“Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation” - Cooperación Económica Asia-Pacífico) is the main economic forum of Asia-Pacific, established in 1989, and whose objective is to pursue the creation of greater prosperity for the population of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative, and secure growth, and by accelerating regional economic integration. The main language of the forum is English.

Each year the presidency and hosting of the forum rotates from one economy to another. Through a request aa member economy can volunteer for the presidency and define where most of the meetings will take place. The host economy defines the theme and logo of the year, as well as the three or four priorities that will lead the work during its chairmanship, with the consensus of the rest of the members. For the year 2020, the host economy was Malaysia. In 2021, New Zealand is holding the presidency of APEC.

Moreover, the host economy must assume the presidency of the yearly meetings of more than twenty workgroups, from a total of seventy groups and subgroups, as well as the Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM); the different sectorial Ministerial Meetings which the host decides to organize and which are usually aligned with its priorities; the APEC Ministerial Meeting between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Trade (AMM), and the Leaders’ Retreat which is the most important event that closes the year.