The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was founded in 1989 for the purpose of promoting trade and investment liberalization in the Asia-Pacific as a means of fostering sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the region. APEC currently has 21 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (officially Hong Kong, China), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan (officially, Chinese Taipei), Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. APEC is one of a few international organizations in which both China and Taiwan are members. During the 1994 Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, APEC members agreed to the Bogor Goals of "free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies." APEC has also made trade facilitation—changes in governmental procedures and controls to increase the ease and efficiency of trade—a major priority. APEC has three distinct features among multilateral trade organizations. First, all the liberalization measures taken by its members are voluntary. Members announce their liberalization measures via "Individual Action Plans." Second, these liberalization measures are generally extended to all economies—not just APEC members—under the concept of "open regionalism." Third, decisions are made by consensus rather than through a process of formal negotiations. Every year, a different APEC member organizes and hosts a series of meetings held throughout the year, including the annual Economic Leaders' Meeting, which is traditionally held in October or November. The United States is the host in 2011; Russia will be the host in 2012. The host member usually picks a theme for the year. The United States has chosen as the theme for 2011, "Creating a seamless economy in the Asia-Pacific region by strengthening regional integration and expanding trade, promoting a green economy and better coordinating trade regulations." Between November 8 and 13, 2011, the United States will host several senior-level APEC meetings in Honolulu, HI. The meetings begin with the fifth and final Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the year, to be held on November 8 and 9. The previous SOMs—held in Washington, DC; San Francisco, CA; and Big Sky, MT—focused on such topics as energy, transportation, and the role of women in the economy. The 5 th SOM will be followed by a Finance Ministers' Meeting on November 10, to be hosted by Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner. On November 11, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will co-host the APEC Ministerial Meeting. The agendas for these meetings have not been disclosed. The APEC gathering in Honolulu is scheduled to conclude with the two-day Economic Leaders' Meeting, to be hosted by President Obama. He will be joined by the leaders of the other 20 APEC members, or their chosen representatives. At past meetings, the U.S. President held one or more separate bilateral meetings with other leaders, usually including a meeting with the leader of the host member. It is unknown if President Obama will hold similar meetings this year. The agenda of the Economic Leaders' Meeting usually is based on the host's theme for the year, implying this year's meeting will center on regional economic integration, sustainable development, and regulatory convergence. As host, President Obama is likely to push for progress on the formation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), a contentious concept on APEC's agenda since 2005. While the United States seems to envision an FTAAP as a larger, binding, and comprehensive free trade agreement among all APEC members, other APEC members see the FTAAP either as the culmination of APEC's "open regionalism" model or a free trade agreement centered in Asia. In addition, the United States may use the event to inform the APEC members about the status of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and possibly publicly announce a significant landmark in the TPP talks. The Economic Leaders' Meeting typically ends with the release of a joint Leaders Declaration which summarizes the current status of APEC and sets priorities for the organization's future. Since the beginning, the Obama Administration has signaled that the Asia-Pacific region is a foreign policy priority. Secretary Hillary Clinton's first international trip after taking office was to Asia, with visits to China, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea. Prior to her trip, Secretary Clinton stated that U.S. relations throughout Asia are "indispensable to our [U.S.] security and prosperity." In November 2009, President Obama travelled to Asia, with visits to China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. During the trip, President Obama attended the 2009 APEC Leaders' Meeting and the first U.S.-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting, which were held in Singapore. President Obama hosted the second U.S.-ASEAN Leaders' Meeting in September 2010 in New York City and attended his second APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2010 in Yokohama, Japan. Besides high-level trips to Asia, the Obama Administration has sought to strengthen U.S. ties to the region. During a January 2010 trip to Asia, Secretary Clinton announced that the United States would formally request membership in the East Asia Summit (EAS). She then attended the EAS meeting in Hanoi in October 2010, at which it was disclosed that the United States—along with Russia—would become a full member in 2011. In addition, the Obama Administration has actively pursued progress in the ongoing TPP negotiations, promoting the potential trade agreement as a possible model free trade agreement for the 21 st century. The heightened U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region has raised questions about APEC's continued role and relevance in U.S. foreign policy, particularly given the growing number of alternative regional events or organizations at which the United States can present its views. The Obama Administration has frequently portrayed APEC as the premier economic and trade organization in the Asia-Pacific region, and similarly views the EAS as the main geopolitical association in the region. This view is shared by all of the other members of these two associations. The Obama Administration has also repeatedly presented the TPP as a building stone for creating the FTAAP envisioned by APEC. Not all of APEC's members agree with this representation of the TPP and some do not share the U.S. conceptualization of a future FTAAP. Some Chinese scholars and officials have expressed considerable concern about U.S motivations behind fostering a comprehensive free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region. Some observers challenge the consistency of a negotiated, binding, and discriminatory TPP with APEC's Bogor Goals and its consensus-based, voluntary, "open regionalism" approach to trade and investment liberalization. In addition, along with reemphasizing the importance of APEC to the region, the Obama Administration has spoken extensively about the "central role" of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Asia-Pacific relations. While 7 of the 10 ASEAN members are also APEC members, there remains some tension between the supposed importance of APEC as the primary path for regional economic integration and the U.S. view of ASEAN as the pivotal player in regional relations. Six days after the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting ends, President Obama is scheduled to attend the 6 th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Bali, Indonesia. The EAS first met in December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with the 10 ASEAN members, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea attending as members, and with Russia as an observer. In the Kuala Lumpur Declaration released at the close of the meeting, the 16 members agreed that the EAS was to serve as "a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia." Included among the multiple goals of the EAS was the promotion of trade and investment expansion and liberalization. On July 20, 2010, the 16 EAS members formally invited the United States and Russia to join the organization. In Secretary Clinton's speech at the meeting, she formally announced the U.S. commitment to join the EAS and laid out the "five key principles" that would guide U.S. engagement with the EAS. The first of the five principles was "to listen, to consult, and to collaborate" with the EAS members on its agenda and initiatives. The second principle was to view ASEAN as "a fulcrum for the region's emerging architecture." The third principle was to suggest that the EAS focus on the "most consequential issues of our time," such as nuclear proliferation, maritime security, and climate change. The fourth principle was to insure that the EAS "complement and reinforce the work being done in other forums," including APEC. The fifth principle was the importance of leveraging bilateral relations with other EAS members to promote U.S. goals in the region. Clinton's speech signaled the Obama Administration's intention to focus the EAS agenda on geopolitical and security issues and reserve APEC as the primary forum for discussing economic and trade issues in the Asia-Pacific region. However, other nations may not agree with the U.S. differentiation of these two regional associations. Prior to the EAS's formal creation, the 10 ASEAN members, plus China, Japan, and South Korea—commonly referred to as either "ASEAN+3" or "10 + 3"—had met to discuss the creation of an East Asian Community and to negotiate an East Asian free trade agreement.