APEC Canada 1997

Australia Prime Minister Prime Minister of Australia The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...  John Howard John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....  Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah General Haji Sir Hassan al-Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah GCB GCMG is the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the 29th Sultan of Brunei and the first Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam...  Canada Prime Minister Prime Minister of Canada The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...  Jean Chrétien Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....  Chile President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who was President of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He is currently Senator for Los Ríos and was President of the Senate from 2006 to 2008. He attempted a comeback as the candidate of the ruling Concertación...  People's Republic of China President President of the People's Republic of China The President of the People's Republic of China is a ceremonial office and a part of State organs under the National People's Congress and it is the head of state of the People's Republic of China . The office was created by the 1982 Constitution...  Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...  Hong Kong Chief Executive Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...  Tung Chee Hwa Tung Chee Hwa Tung Chee Hwa, GBM was the first Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China....  Indonesia President Suharto  Japan Prime Minister Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. He is appointed by the Emperor of Japan after being designated by the Diet from among its members, and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office...  Ryutaro Hashimoto Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the 82nd and 83rd Prime Minister of Japan from January 11, 1996 to July 30, 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politics until scandal...  South Korea President President of South Korea The President of the Republic of Korea is, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, chief executive of the government, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the head of state of the Republic of Korea...  Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam was a South Korean politician and democratic activist. From 1961, he spent 30 years as South Korea's leader of the opposition, and one of Park Chung-hee's most powerful rivals....  Malaysia Prime Minister Prime Minister of Malaysia The Prime Minister of Malaysia is the indirectly elected head of government of Malaysia. He is officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state, who in HM's judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House of Representatives , the...  Mahathir Mohamad  Mexico President President of Mexico The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...  Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León  New Zealand Prime Minister Prime Minister of New Zealand The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...  Jim Bolger Jim Bolger James Brendan "Jim" Bolger, ONZ was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics...  Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Bill Skate Bill Skate Sir William Jack Skate KCMG was a Papua New Guinea politician and statesman. He was the son of an Australian father and a native PNG mother...  Philippines (Officially The Republic of the Philippines) President Fidel V. Ramos Fidel V. Ramos Fidel "Eddie" Valdez Ramos , popularly known as FVR, was the 12th President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy.Prior to his election as...  Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong Goh Chok Tong Goh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...  Republic of China (Officially Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in some international organizations and almost all sporting events, such as the Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games and Asian Para Games... ) President President of the Republic of China The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...  Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...  Thailand Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai Chuan Leekpai Chuan Leekpai was the Prime Minister of Thailand from September 20, 1992 to May 19, 1995 and again from November 9, 1997 to February 9, 2001. A third-generation Thai Chinese, Chuan was born in Trang province in a grass-roofed house. The walls of his family's house were woven from strips of...  United States President Bill Clinton Bill Clinton William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

APEC Canada 1997 was a series of meetings focused on economic cooperation, held in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. It was the fifth APEC meeting in history and the second held in the Americas. Though discussions also involved the admittance of Peru, Russian and Vietnam into the organization (as of 2010 these countries remained APEC's newest members), the meeting focused on development in Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...

 countries and its implications for the world's economy. The role of the IMF was also discussed, as was the need to strengthen global cooperation with respect to economic activity (EVSL initiative - tariffs), customs procedures and emergencies.
47% of world trade is done by APEC members. The first day of the meeting was November 24, 1997.

History

The organization first met as a forum in 1989, in an informal meeting meant to facilitate dialogue between member nations (originally 12 including 3 G8 countries). It was intended to liberalize international trade. APEC's three pillars were delineated at the 1995 meeting in Japan.

Expansion

Three new members Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, were admitted under a ten-year integration initiative (a decision agreed in 1997 but not converted into formal admission for the new members until 1998). The most recent additions prior to this had been those of Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and Chile in 1991.

1997 was also the year Russia entered the G7, creating the G8.

Purpose and Goals

The group ratified

Ratification

Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutionals in federations such as the United States and Canada.- Private law :In contract law, the...

 a tariff

Tariff

A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....

 reduction procedure, abbreviated EVSL, which had as its goal lower tariffs across 15 economic sectors; the process regarded nine of these as priority areas.

Goals were set regarding financial stability and how it could be achieved through a stronger and more relevant International Monetary Fund

International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

. Customs procedures were also discussed, with the goal of improving clearances

Customs broking

Customs brokerage is a profession that involves the 'clearing' of goods through customs barriers for importers and exporters...

 by 2000.

Criticism

An APEC report, compiled by inquiry commissioner Ted Hughes

Ted Hughes (judge)

Edward N. "Ted" Hughes is a retired Canadian judge. He is best known for overseeing prominent investigations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, one of which led to the resignation of Premier Bill Vander Zalm....

 and including testimonies from over 150 witnesses, alleged that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

 used excessive force on protesters during the meeting.

See also

• Excessive use of force at the 1997 APEC Summit
• APEC Peru 2008
  APEC Peru 2008
  The APEC Peru 2008 summit was the twentieth annual gather of APEC leaders. The meet was primarily a series of political-economic meetings, which were held in Peru between the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation , although business leaders of the region also met before the summit...