- 31st Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting, in which the leaders of the 21 member countries participated, was held in Lima, Peru on 15&16 November 2024.
- Along with the Economic Leaders Meeting, the 35th APEC Ministerial meeting was held in Lima on 15 & 16 November 2024. The meeting was hosted by the Peruvian President, Dina Boluarte.
- It was the last summit meeting of United States President Joe Biden, as his terms end on 19 January 2024, and Donald Trump will be sworn in on 20 January 2025.
- APEC is an intergovernmental group of 21 countries in the Asia Pacific region that promotes economic ties among its members. Around 40 per cent of the world’s population lives here.
- The members of APEC contribute around 50 % of world trade, and they constitute around 60 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product(GDP).
- The next Summit meeting will be hosted by South Korea in 2025, followed by China in 2026 and Vietnam in 2027.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
- Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke proposed the concept of a group of Asia Pacific countries focussed on promoting economic relations amongst the countries lying along the Asia Pacific region in 1989.
- The first Ministerial meeting of the APEC was held in Canberra, Australia in 1989.
- The first annual summit meeting of the APEC leaders, called the ‘Economic Leaders’ meeting, was held at Blake Island, United States, in 1993.
- At present, 21 countries—Peru, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Indonesia, Philippines, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei(Taiwan), and the United States of America—are its members.
- India is not a member of APEC.