(September 15, 2010) The U.S. State Department announced this week that it has chosen San Francisco to host Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meetings in the fall of 2011.
In preparation for a November 2011 heads-of-state meeting in Honolulu, APEC’s 3rd Senior Officials’ Meeting and a host of related meetings will be held in San Francisco in September 2011. Senior Officials’ and other high-level meetings will be held in Washington, D.C., and Montana earlier in the year. Japan is hosting the APEC meetings this year.
"California jobs, business vitality, and our cultural identity all are deeply tied to the Asia-Pacific region,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “It will not be long before our economic relationship surpasses $400 billion. I am here in Asia on this trade mission promoting business growth and can think of no better host for APEC discussions than the Golden State."
Envisioned for San Francisco is an intensive series of meetings, including the Senior Officials’ Meeting, working group and committee meetings, public-private forums involving senior government and private sector leaders, and a high-level meeting of energy and transportation officials. Issues addressed at these meetings will include those related to APEC's core mission to promote free and open trade and investment and strengthen economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as making regional economic growth more inclusive and sustainable.
Integral to bringing the APEC meetings to San Francisco is the public-private statewide organizing committee, CalAPEC. CalAPEC is led by San Francisco businessman Paul Oliva with the support of the California Chamber of Commerce, Bay Area Council Economic Institute, and other regional business leaders. APEC is the first high-level international government meeting for either San Francisco or California to bid on and win in over a decade. California is more dependent on Asia-Pacific business than any other U.S. state.
APEC
Formed in 1989, APEC serves as a multilateral forum in which Asian and Pacific economies can solve economic problems and cooperate in developing key economic sectors.
Collectively, the 21 economies of APEC, which touch the Pacific Ocean, represent a large consumer market—nearly half the world’s population, nearly half of all world trade and more than $19 trillion in economic output.
The APEC economies are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
APEC ministers have met each year since November 1994, when they issued the Bogor Declaration, which calls for industrialized members of APEC to remove trade barriers.
More information is available at www.calchamber.com/APEC.
Staff Contact: Susanne Stirling