Growth: Trade and Apec

growth: Amid slowing global trade growth and rising protectionism, progress toward the Bogor Goals and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific FTAAP are top on the meeting agenda, according to Global Times China. The AELM is a top-level meeting under the APEC institutional framework. Leaders and their representatives from 21 member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC will discuss the future of international trade policies, economic growth and improvement of living conditions under the theme Quality Growth and Human Development. The idea of APEC was first publicly proposed by former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke during a speech in Seoul, Korea on Jan. 31, 1989, in response to growing interdependence between countries in the region and the establishment of regional trade blocs elsewhere in the world. APEC had been operating at the ministerial level until November 1993 when the mechanism of APEC Economic Leaders Meeting was adopted, which brings together heads of state and representatives of member economies to determine strategic policies for the bloc. In November 1989, the first APEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Canberra, Australia, which marked the official establishment of the regional bloc. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.