Ates country participants. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dossier. Ates: goals and directions of activity. Organizational structure

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum of 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region. APEC was created in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific region and the emergence of regional trading blocs in other parts of the world; due to fears that industrialized Japan (a member of the G8) will dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region and also to create new markets for agricultural products and raw materials outside of Europe (where demand is declining).

APEC works to improve living standards and education based on sustainable economic growth and promotes a sense of community and appreciation of common interests among the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. APEC includes the Newly Industrialized Countries (NIEs) and its activities are aimed at creating opportunities for the ASEAN economies to explore new directions for the export of natural resources such as natural gas, as well as regional economic integration (industrial integration) through foreign direct investment. Members make up approximately 40% of the world's population, approximately 54% of the world's gross domestic product, and approximately 44% of world trade.

The APEC annual meeting is attended by economic leaders, usually the heads of government of the member economies, and only Taiwan is represented by a ministerial level official. The venue of the summit changes annually among the participating economies, and glorious traditions, and then for most (but not all) summits, include dressing up the leaders of the participating economies in the national costumes of the host country.

History of APEC

In January 1989, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke called for more effective economic cooperation in the Pacific region. This led to the first APEC meeting in the Australian capital, Canberra, in November 1989, chaired by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gareth Evans. Political ministers from twelve countries attended, and the meeting ended with the agreement of future annual meetings in Singapore and Korea.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries opposed the original proposal and proposed an East Asia Economic Council that would exclude non-Asian countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This plan was heavily criticized by Japan and the United States.

The first meeting of APEC economic leaders took place in 1993, when US President Bill Clinton, after negotiations with Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, invited the heads of government of APEC member economies to a summit on Blake Island. He believed that this would help move the deadlocked Uruguay Round trade talks back on track. At the meeting, some leaders called for continued lowering of barriers to trade and investment, representing a community in the Asia-Pacific region that will promote prosperity through cooperation. The APEC Secretariat, located in Singapore, was established to coordinate the activities of the organization.

During their 1994 meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, APEC leaders adopted the Bogor Goals, which planned to create a free and open trade and investment area in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 for developed economies, and by 2020 for developing economies. In 1995, the APEC countries created a body for business advice, which became known as the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), consisting of three business leaders from each member economy.

To achieve the Bogor Goals, APEC works in three main areas:

1. Trade and investment liberalization.
2. Business assistance.
3. Economic and technical cooperation.

APEC member countries

APEC currently has 21 members, including most of the Pacific coastline countries. However, the criterion for membership is that the member of the organization is a separate economy and not a state. As a result, APEC uses the term member economies rather than member countries to refer to its members. One result of this criterion is that the forum includes Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, participating under the name "Chinese Taipei"), along with the People's Republic of China, as well as Hong Kong, which joined APEC as a British colony but is now a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. APEC also includes three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.

APEC member countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Hong Kong (China), People's Republic of China, Mexico, Papua - New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia, Vietnam.

Countries that have expressed interest in participating in APEC

India requested participation in APEC and received initial support from the US, Japan and Australia. However, officials have decided not to let India join for the time being, for various reasons. It was decided not to allow more participants in APEC until 2010. Also, India does not border the Pacific Ocean, unlike all current members. However, India was invited as an observer for the first time in November 2011.

In addition to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Macau, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador are seeking to join APEC. Colombia applied to join APEC back in 1995, but its offer was rejected as the organization stopped accepting new members from 1993 to 1996, and the moratorium was extended until 2007 due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Guam also wants to be a separate member, citing Hong Kong as an example, but the request is opposed by the US, which currently represents Guam.

APEC and trade liberalization

According to the organization itself, when APEC was created in 1989, the average trade barrier in the region was 16.9 percent, but this was reduced to 5.5 percent in 2004.

APEC Efforts to Simplify Business

APEC has long been at the forefront of business facilitation reforms. From 2002 to 2006, business transaction spending in the region fell by 6%, thanks to the APEC Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAPI). Between 2007 and 2010, APEC hoped to achieve an additional 5% reduction in business transaction costs. To this end, a new trade facilitation action plan has been approved. As part of its trade costs and project facilitation, increased transparency in the region's trading system is critical if APEC is to achieve its Bogor goals, according to a World Bank study published in 2008. The APEC Business Travel Card, a travel document for visa-free business travel in the region, is one of the specific measures to facilitate business. In May 2010, Russia joined the scheme, thus completing the circle.

Proposed Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area (FTATA)

The APEC economies first officially began discussing the concept of establishing a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region at a summit in 2006 in Hanoi. However, the prerequisites for the creation of such a zone have existed since at least 1966, when the Japanese economist Kiyoshi Kojima first proposed a Pacific Free Trade Area agreement. While the idea was not welcomed with open arms, it led to the formation of the Pacific Conference on Trade and Development and then the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council in 1980 and then APEC in 1989.

In more recent times, the economist S. Fred Bergsten has been a proponent of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Agreement. His ideas convinced the APEC Business Advisory Council to support this concept.

The FTAAP proposal arose out of the lack of progress in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations, and as a way to overcome the "spaghetti bowl" effect resulting from the obstacles and conflicting elements of countless free trade agreements between individual countries.

There are currently about 60 free trade agreements in place, with another 117 under negotiation in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. FTAAP is more ambitious in scope than the Doha Round, which limits itself to reducing trade restrictions. The FTAAP agreement will create a free trade area that will greatly expand trade and economic growth in the region. Economic expansion and trade growth may exceed expectations of other regional free trade areas such as ASEAN Plus Three (ASEAN + China, Japan and South Korea).

Some critics point out that changing APEC trade rules will create imbalances, market conflicts and complications in relations with countries in other regions. The development of the FTAAP is expected to take many years, and will include major studies, assessments and negotiations between participating economies. The process may also be affected by a lack of political will, massive unrest, and lobbying against free trade in domestic politics.

APEC Training Centers Consortium

In 1993, APEC leaders decided to create a network of APEC research centers between universities and research institutions in member economies. Notable centers are: APEC Australian Training Centre, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia; Berkeley Learning Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Taiwan APEC Research Center, Taiwan Economic Research Institute, Taiwan; APEC Research Center (HKU), University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; APEC Kobe Research Centre, Kobe University, Japan; Nankai APEC Research Centre, Nankai University, China; Philippine APEC Training Center, Philippine Development Research Institute, Philippines; APEC Canadian Training Center, Canadian Asia Pacific Foundation, Vancouver, Canada; APEC Indonesian Training Center, APEC Training Center of the University of Indonesia, Indonesia.

The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) was formed at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 1995 to provide advice on how to achieve the Bogor Goals and other specific business sector priorities, and provide a business perspective on specific areas of cooperation.

Each country appoints up to three members from the private sector to the ABAC. These business leaders represent a wide range of industries. ABAC provides an annual report to APEC economic leaders containing recommendations for improving the business and investment climate in the Asia-Pacific region and business views on priority regional issues. ABAC is also the only non-governmental organization that attends official meetings of APEC economic leaders.

Annual meetings of APEC leaders

Since its formation in 1989, APEC has held annual meetings with representatives from all member economies. The first four annual meetings of officials were held at the ministerial level. Starting in 1993, the annual meetings became known as the APEC Economic Leaders' Meetings and were supposed to be attended by the heads of government of all participating economies, with the exception of Taiwan, which is represented by a ministerial official. The annual meetings of APEC leaders are not officially called summits.

ASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION FORUM (APEC) is an international economic organization created to develop integration ties between the countries of the Pacific basin. Currently, it unites the economies of 21 countries of various levels of development (Australia, Canada, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Taiwan, Chile , Philippines, South Korea, Japan).

History of APEC

Founded in Canberra (Australia) on the initiative of Australian Prime Minister B. Hawke in 1989. Initially, it included 12 countries - 6 developed countries of the Pacific Ocean (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, South Korea, Japan) and 6 developing countries of Southeast Asia (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines). By 1997, APEC already included almost all the main countries of the Pacific region: Hong Kong (1993), China (1993), Mexico (1994), Papua New Guinea (1994), Taiwan (1993), Chile (1995) became new members. In 1998, simultaneously with the admission of three new members to APEC - Russia, Vietnam and Peru - a 10-year moratorium was introduced on further expansion of the membership of the Forum. India and Mongolia have applied for APEC membership. The creation of APEC was preceded by a long development in the 1960-1980s in the Asia-Pacific region of more local economic unions - ASEAN, the Pacific Economic Council, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference, the South Pacific Forum, etc. Back in 1965, the Japanese economist K. Kojima proposed the creation of a Pacific Free Trade Area with the participation of the industrialized countries of the region. The interaction process intensified in the 1980s, when the countries of the Far East began to demonstrate high and stable economic growth.

Goals activities The forums were formally defined in 1991 in the Seoul Declaration. This:

• - maintaining the economic growth of the countries of the region;
• - strengthening mutual trade;
• - elimination of restrictions on the movement of goods, services and capital between countries in accordance with the GATT / WTO rules (see WTO).

In the mid-2000s, more than 1/3 of the world's population lived in APEC member countries, they produced about 60% of world GDP and conducted about 50% of world trade. This organization has become one of the three (along with the EU and NAFTA) the most influential integration blocs in the modern world economy. Although APEC is the youngest of the "three" largest economic integration blocs, it has already become an important vehicle for promoting trade and economic cooperation in the region. The APEC economic zone is the most dynamically developing on a global scale; it is predicted to play the role of the main leader of the world economy in the 21st century. asian pacific international cooperation

Features of APEC as a regional integration bloc. APEC includes countries with very different levels of economic development. For example, the per capita rates of the USA and Papua New Guinea differ by three orders of magnitude.

For the interaction of very heterogeneous APEC member countries, developed mechanisms, much less formalized than EU and NAFTA rules.

• 1) Cooperation only in the economic sphere. From the very beginning, APEC saw itself not as a politically cohesive grouping of countries, but as a loose "collection of economies." The term "economy" emphasizes that this organization discusses economic, not political issues. The fact is that the PRC did not recognize the independent statehood of Hong Kong and Taiwan, therefore they were officially considered not countries, but territories (Taiwan still had such a status in the mid-2000s).
• 2) The almost complete absence of a special administrative apparatus. APEC is formed as a free consultative forum without any rigid organizational structure or large bureaucracy. The APEC Secretariat, located in Singapore, includes only 23 diplomats representing APEC member countries, as well as 20 local employees. Since 1993, the main form of organizational activity of the Forum has been the annual summits (informal meetings) of the leaders of the APEC countries, during which declarations are adopted summing up the Forum's activities for the year and determining the prospects for further activities. Meetings of the ministers of foreign affairs and foreign trade of the participating countries are held more often. The main working bodies of APEC are the Business Advisory Council, three committees of experts (committee on trade and investment, economic committee, administrative and budgetary committee) and 11 working groups in various sectors of the economy.
• 3) Rejection of coercion, the primacy of voluntariness. APEC is not an organization with law enforcement powers in conflict resolution (like the WTO, for example). On the contrary, APEC works only on the basis of consultation and consensus. The main driving stimulus is the positive examples of the "neighbors", the desire to follow them. APEC countries officially demonstrate adherence to the principle of open regionalism, which is usually interpreted as the freedom of APEC members to choose specific mechanisms for trade liberalization.
• 4) Priority attention to information exchange. The main element of the process of interaction between APEC member countries is the open exchange of information. It can be said that the immediate goal of this economic association is not so much a single economic as a single information space. There is an exchange, first of all, of information about the business projects of the participating countries. The growth of information openness makes it possible for businessmen from each of the countries to engage in entrepreneurial activities throughout the APEC territory.
• 5) Refusal of rigid planning of the prospects for the evolution of the Forum. At APEC conferences, the issue of creating the Asia-Pacific Economic Community, APEC as a free trade and investment zone was repeatedly raised. However, the huge heterogeneity of the participating countries hinders the implementation of these plans. Therefore, even in the mid-2000s, APEC is more of a discussion forum that has some features of an integration association than such an association in the full sense of the word. The course towards the creation of APEC is fixed in a number of official documents (for example, in the Bogor Declaration of 1994 and the Manila Program of Action of 1996), but entry into APEC is scheduled only by 2010 for industrialized participating countries and by 2020 for developing countries.

The forum, called the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), was formed during the conference of ministers of foreign affairs and economy of 12 Asia-Pacific countries, held on November 6-7, 1989 in Canberra (Australia). Its main goals are to deepen economic integration, expand trade, and strengthen economic growth in the region.

APEC cannot formally be called an organization because it does not have a charter and acts as an international advisory body to discuss economic issues. The work of APEC is built on the basis of consensus.

Membership

There are currently 19 countries in APEC. Among them are 12 founding states - Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Philippines, South Korea, Japan - as well as China (entered in 1991), Mexico and Papua - New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), Russia, Vietnam and Peru (1998). Since 1991, two Chinese territories have also joined APEC - Xianggang (Hong Kong) and Taiwan. Taking into account the specifics of the composition, which includes not only states, but also territories, it is customary to designate APEC participants by the term "economy".

In 1998, after the admission of Russia, Peru and Vietnam to APEC, a ten-year moratorium on further expansion of the forum came into force. In 2007, the moratorium was extended and is still in effect.

More than ten countries of Asia and Latin America, including India, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mongolia, and Pakistan, have submitted official applications for membership in APEC.

The share of APEC members accounts for approximately 59% of the planet's GDP and 49% of world trade, about 2.8 billion people live on their territory.

Structure

The governing bodies of the forum are the annual summits of heads of state and government (held since 1993 in different countries) and the meetings of the ministers of foreign affairs and trade dedicated to them. According to the established tradition, at the opening ceremony of the summit, its participants put on costumes created on the basis of the national clothes of the host country of the forum; the leaders of the participating countries also appear in them at the gala dinner, which takes place on the first day of the summit. This tradition is designed to emphasize the diversity of cultures in the Asia-Pacific region, to create a relaxed atmosphere of communication. Among the most colorful costumes in which the participants of the forum were shown were Peruvian ponchos and Vietnamese "ao dai".

There are also sectoral ministerial meetings and quarterly APEC Senior Officials' Meetings throughout the year.

Administrative and technical functions are performed by the secretariat established in 1992 and headquartered in Singapore. The duties of the chairman of the forum are carried out by the country in which the next summit will be held. The APEC chairman changes annually on a rotational basis, while there is no strict principle of rotation.

The issues of economic interaction between the member countries are dealt with by the Trade and Investment Committee, the Economic Committee, as well as numerous working groups. In total, there are about 40 structural subdivisions of the forum.

agenda

After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, APEC began to pay close attention to the problems of strengthening financial security. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the agenda of the summits included the topic of combating international terrorism, primarily by economic and financial means. Recently, more attention has been paid to other aspects of security, including in the field of trade, finance, energy, health and transport.

Russia and APEC

Russia filed an official application for joining APEC on March 17, 1995. The decision to join the Russian Federation to this international structure was made at a summit in Vancouver on November 25, 1997. Official entry took place on November 14, 1998 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) at a meeting of ministers foreign affairs and trade.

Membership in APEC gives Russia, in particular, the opportunity to use the mechanisms of the forum to stimulate the country's economic development, primarily in the regions of Siberia and the Far East. The Russian Far East has repeatedly hosted important events of the APEC working bodies. Among them is the large-scale APEC investment fair in 2002, as well as meetings of the forum's specialized working groups on transport, energy, industrial science and technology. In 2012, the next APEC summit was held in Vladivostok. The final declaration noted the need for further trade liberalization, economic integration, improved food security, innovation, development of transport and logistics.

Russia is one of the main developers of the 2006 APEC initiative on the development of a dialogue between cultures and religions - a dialogue among civilizations. In addition, the Russian Federation acted as one of the initiators of the development of cooperation in order to counter natural and man-made emergencies and develop a system for the mutual provision of information and coordinated actions in the event of epidemics and pandemics.

The goal of APEC is to increase economic growth, prosperity in the region and the strengthening of the Asia-Pacific community. The participating economies are home to about 40% of the world's population, they account for approximately 54% of GDP and 44% of world trade.

APEC members

There are currently 21 countries in APEC, among them - most of the countries with a coastline near the Pacific Ocean. One of the few international organizations that Taiwan has joined with China's full approval. As a result, APEC adopted the term participating economies, but not participating countries.

History of APEC

APEC is formed as a free consultative forum without any rigid organizational structure or large bureaucracy. APEC does not have a charter, therefore, from a legal point of view, it cannot be called an organization and acts as an international advisory body. The APEC Secretariat, located in Singapore, includes only 23 diplomats representing APEC member countries, as well as 20 local employees.

Initially, the supreme body of APEC was the annual meetings at the ministerial level. Since 1993, the main form of organizational activity of APEC has been the annual summits (informal meetings) of the leaders of the APEC economies, during which declarations are adopted summing up the Forum's activities for the year and determining the prospects for further activities. Sessions of the ministers of foreign affairs and the economy are held with great frequency.

The main working bodies of APEC: the Business Advisory Council, three committees of experts (committee on trade and investment, economic committee, administrative and budgetary committee) and 11 working groups for various sectors of the economy. The APEC Chairman, elected at the forum's conferences, changes annually on a rotational basis. Its functions are carried out by the country in which the next summit will be held. Administrative and technical functions are performed by the secretariat established in 1992.

Since 2001, the agenda of the summits has included the topic of combating international terrorism, primarily by economic and financial means. Recently, more and more attention has been paid to other aspects of security, including in the areas of trade, finance, energy, healthcare and transport, united by the general term “personal security”.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)- an international economic organization created for cooperation in the field of regional trade, economic development, liberalization of investment conditions in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

APEC was formed in 1989 in Canberra at the initiative of the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand. The creation of APEC was preceded by a long development in the 1960s-1980s in the Asia-Pacific region of more local economic unions - ASEAN, the Pacific Economic Council, the Conference on Pacific Economic Cooperation, the South Pacific Forum, etc. The interaction process intensified in the 1980s, when the countries of the Far East began to demonstrate high and stable economic growth.

Initially, 12 countries became APEC participating economies - 6 developed countries of the Pacific basin (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, South Korea, Japan) and 6 developing countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines). Later it was joined by Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam. APEC is headquartered in Singapore.

Russia applied to join APEC in March 1995. Later in the same year, a decision was made to include Russia in the APEC working groups. The procedure for Russia's entry into the organization was completed in November 1998. Russia is interested in participating in the integration projects of the Asia-Pacific Region (APR), in which Siberia and the Far East play a special role, primarily in the energy and transport fields.

APEC activities:

Exchange of information and consultations on policy and economic development with the aim of achieving sustainable growth, making adjustments and narrowing the economic development gap;

Develop strategies to reduce barriers to the movement of goods, services and investment;

Cooperation in the field of energy, fisheries, transport, telecommunications, tourism, environmental protection;

Promoting the development of regional trade, investment, the movement of financial resources, technology transfer, industrial cooperation, infrastructure development, and the provision of labor resources.

APEC structure

The structure of the Forum is decentralized. Since 1993, the main form of organizational activity of the Forum has been the annual summits of the leaders of the APEC countries, during which declarations are adopted summing up the Forum's activities for the year and determining the prospects for further activities. Meetings of the ministers of foreign affairs and foreign trade of the participating countries are held more often.

The main working bodies of APEC are:

business advisory board(ABC) is an autonomous business forum that brings together business representatives who express the point of view of the business world in the APEC forum, directly participating in its work.

Expert Committees- Trade and Investment Committee, Economic Committee, Administrative and Budget Committee.

Working groups for various sectors of the economy - on industrial science and technology, on the problems of small and medium-sized businesses, on trade promotion, etc.

Russia's participation in APEC

In November 1998, on the initiative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the APEC Business Club was formed - an informal association of representatives of Russian business circles, focused in their activities on the Asia-Pacific region. It includes more than 50 large Russian firms and banks.

The first important event in Russia within the framework of the APEC Forum was the ABAC meeting held in Moscow in May 2001, which was attended by about 100 representatives of the business elite of the APEC countries.

Unfortunately, even in the mid-2000s, the ties of most APEC member countries with Russia remained rather weak. Experts believe that one of the main reasons for this negative situation is the insufficient activity of Russian representatives in the APEC ABAC, their weak relationship with Russian government departments and business circles.

A step towards enhancing the participation of the Russian Federation in APEC was the development of the state concept of Russia's participation in the Forum, which was outlined by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin during the next APEC summit in Bangkok in October 2003. In his speech, he said that “Russia's course towards the further development of comprehensive cooperation with the Asia-Pacific countries is our conscious choice. It was made due to the growing interdependence of the world ... and due to the fact that this region has become one of the most dynamically developing today.

At the 13th APEC summit in Puson in November 2005, it was proposed to consider joint work in the energy sector with the APEC countries as a priority area of ​​economic cooperation between Russia and the fight against terrorism in the political sphere.

In 2012, Russia became the chairman of APEC, which is an important incentive for enhancing the country's participation in its activities and expanding economic cooperation with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The idea of ​​holding an official meeting of the heads of APEC member states in Vladivostok was first publicly announced by the governor of Primorsky Krai S.M. Darkin during the 14th APEC International Summit, held in November 2006 in Hanoi (Vietnam). At the same time, Russian President V.V. Putin instructed a number of state structures to prepare official proposals on this matter. Since that moment, Russia's relations within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization have noticeably intensified.

In September 2007, at the next APEC Summit in Australia, the leaders of the countries participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation officially supported the proposal of our country to hold the next summit meeting in 2012 in Russia. The corresponding decision was recorded in the final Sydney Declaration.

The Russian Federation has announced the following main areas as priorities for its chairmanship at the APEC-2012 summit:

• Formation of reliable transport and logistics chains (more active use of opportunities: Trans-Siberian Railway, BAM, Northern Sea Route);
• intensive interaction to ensure innovative growth;
• strengthening food security (of the estimated 925 million hungry and undernourished in the world, about 580 million live in the Asia-Pacific region);
• trade and investment liberalization regional economic integration.

The Vladivostok Declaration adopted at the end of the summit reflects the declared priorities of the period of Russia's chairmanship in APEC. The APEC countries agreed to refrain until the end of 2015 from introducing new export restrictions, creating barriers to investment and trade, and also committed themselves to abandoning protectionism. In addition, the Forum participants reaffirmed their commitment to fighting corruption, strengthening government and global financial systems, and reducing price fluctuations and improving food security. For Russia, the summit was successful. Traditionally, the APEC Forum is a platform for discussions and plans, and not for decision-making, but the Russian summit was an exception. As a result of the forum, the world started talking about the “eastern turn” of the Russian economy.

At the APEC-2012 site, the leaders of the leading powers of the region (China, Russia, the USA, Japan) met, between which a number of agreements were signed. First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, who was in charge of organizing the forum, noted that the APEC summit in Vladivostok should help shift Russia's foreign trade balance towards Asian countries.

As a result of the APEC summit, which was held in Beijing in November 2014, the participating countries decided to create a free trade area (FTATA) in the Asia-Pacific region. Russia will participate in this work in the most energetic and constructive way. Naturally, in this case, the integration experience of the Russian Federation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will be used.