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Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

APEC 2024

Peru will chair APEC for the third time in 2024, after hosting in 2008 and 2016. Their host year will include over 160 meetings across five cities. We are grateful to Peru for their leadership and look forward to working with Peru and other economies toward successful outcomes during APEC 2024.

Peru’s theme for APEC 2024 is “Empower. Include. Grow.” and it encompasses three priorities:

  • Trade and investment for inclusive and interconnected growth;   
  • Innovation and digitalization to promote transition to the formal and global economy; and
  • Sustainable growth for resilient development.  

We have worked together to find ways to build an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economies for the Asia-Pacific. We talked about the progress that requires partnership. America’s commitment to the Asia-Pacific is unwavering and, in our view, from America’s perspective, essential.

About APEC

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the premier platform for the United States to advance economic policies in the Asia-Pacific region to promote free, fair, and open trade and investment and advance inclusive and sustainable growth. The 21 APEC member economies account for nearly 40 percent of the global population, almost half of global trade, and approximately 60 percent of global GDP. 

“Our vision is an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations.”

In 2020, Malaysia led APEC economies to launch the Putrajaya Vision 2040 for an “open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations.”  The following year, New Zealand used its APEC host year to launch the Aotearoa Plan of Action to set out actions to achieve the Putrajaya Vision and evaluate progress. 

These efforts made clear the three “drivers of economic growth” on which APEC should focus:

  • Trade and investment;
  • Innovation and digitalization; and,
  • Strong, balanced, secure, sustainable, and inclusive growth.

APEC Process

The hosting of APEC rotates each year among member economies.  The United States was the 2023 APEC host, following Thailand’s 2022 host year.  Peru is the 2024 host.  Each APEC year culminates in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), at which member economy Leaders meet to discuss issues affecting the region. The 2023 AELW was held in San Francisco, California.  At the conclusion of the AELM, Leaders typically issue a joint Declaration and historically have posed for photos in the traditional dress of the host economy. 

AELM is a prime opportunity to engage the 20 other economies bilaterally and plurilaterally at senior levels.  Preparing for the AELM includes an entire annual cycle of several hundred meetings among APEC senior officials, ministers, committees, working groups, and task forces responsible for coordination among members across a range of issues of mutual interest. 

While most meetings and events have focused on principles, best practices and statements of intent, they also provide valuable opportunities for the United States to provide practical exchanges and concrete cooperation on a variety of regional and global issues.  The breadth of APEC’s work can be viewed under the Topics tab on the APEC website

APEC Economies and the World

Population

Chart for APEC
Rest of World62%
PRC18%
USA4%
INA4%
RUS2%
MEX2%
Rest of APEC8%

GDP

Chart for APEC
Rest of World38%
USA25%
PRC17%
JPN6%
CDA2%
ROK2%
Rest of APEC10%

Trade

Chart for APEC
Rest of World52%
PRC12%
USA11%
JPN4%
HKC3%
ROK3%
Rest of APEC10%

U.S. Department of State

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