The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was established in November 1989 in Australia as an international forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.
Having started with 12 founding members, APEC is now composed of 21 economies and comprises 39% of the world population and 57% of global GDP.
Since its membership, Vietnam has contributed actively to APEC's development. It successfully hosted APEC 2006 which was filled with many important initiatives. These included the Hanoi Action Plan to accomplish the Busan Roadmap and Bogor Goals and the Declaration on the Development Agenda of the WTO's Doha round. Under Vietnam's chairmanship, regional leaders reached a consensus on a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting a long-term outlook consistent with regional cooperation trends.
With careful preparation, Vietnam has shown its strong determination to successfully organize APEC 2017, an event for the people and businesses, that contributes to maintain the Asia - Pacific region as the driving force of the global economy.
