ANNEX 1: IMPORTANT ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS12
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC
Members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China People's Republic, Hong Kong SAR, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China (Admitted as Chinese Taipei), Thailand, USA
APEC was initiated in November 1989 in Canberra, Australia, as an informal consultative forum of the six ASEAN members and their six dialogue partners in the pacific. Its aim is to promote multilateral economic cooperation on issues of trade and investment.
APEC was intended to be a forum for informal discussion within the region and, in particular, to promote trade liberalization in the Uruguay Round of negotiations, which were being conducted under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The objectives are:
· to sustain the growth and development of the region;
· to enhance the positive gains from increasing economic inter-dependence;
· to develop and strengthen the open multilateral trade system; and
· to reduce barriers to investment and to trade in goods and services among participants.
APEC supports "open regionalism" to encourage trade liberalization throughout the world economy, as well as amongst its members. In September 1992 APEC ministers agreed to establish a permanent secretariat. In November 1994 the meeting of APEC heads of government adopted the Bogor Declaration of Common Resolve, which endorsed an Eminent Persons Group recommended timetable for free and open trade and investment in the region by the year 2020.
South Pacific Commission - SPC
The Commission, which is based in New Caledonia, was established by an agreement signed in Canberra, Australia, by the governments of Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA in February 1947, effective from July 1948. (The Netherlands withdrew in 1962; The United Kingdom withdrew from 1 January 1996). The Commission is a non-political organization, which provides technical advice, training and assistance in economic, social and cultural development to 22 countries of the Pacific region.
Its main areas of activity cover agriculture, fisheries, community health, socio-economic and statistical services, and community education services. It serves a population of about 6m., scattered over some 30m sq km, more than 98% of which is sea.
Members: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, USA, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Western Samoa.
Members: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Western Samoa.
The South Pacific Forum is the gathering of Heads of Government of the independent and self-governing states of the South Pacific. Its first meeting was held on 5 August 1971, in Wellington, New Zealand. It provides an opportunity for informal discussions to be held on a wide range of common issues and problems. Decisions are always reached by consensus, it never having been found necessary or desirable to vote formally on issues. In October 1994, the Forum was granted observer status by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
From 1989 onwards, each Forum was followed by "dialogues" with representatives of other countries that were influential in the region. In 1995 "dialogue partners" comprised Canada, the People's Republic of China, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the USA, the Republic of Korea and the European Union.
12 Source: Europa Publications (1996).
