page_title: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
section_title: Member economies
hierarchical_section_title: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation / Member economies
caption_attribution_description: U.S. President George W. Bush pauses during a trilateral meeting Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006, with Shinzo Abe, right, Prime Minister of Japan, and President Roh Moo-Hyun, of the Republic of Korea. White House photo by Eric Draper.
context_page_description: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the 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 and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; it aimed to establish new markets for agricultural products and 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 the Republic of China attend an annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. The location of the meeting rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition, followed for most summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country.
context_section_description: APEC currently has 21 members. However, the criterion for membership is that the member is a separate economy, rather than a state. As a result, APEC uses the term member economies rather than member countries to refer to its members. One result of this criterion is that membership of the forum includes Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, participating under the name "Chinese Taipei") alongside People's Republic of China (see Cross-Strait relations), as well as Hong Kong, which entered APEC as a British colony but it is now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. APEC also includes three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.
caption: Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Former U.S. President George W. Bush at APEC 2006 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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