AP Photo

Today, APEC has established itself clearly as a powerful engine for integration in the Asia-Pacific region and a generator of new ideas contributing to regional development.

Over these last 20 years, the forum has become an independent and crucially important factor in the global economy and politics, and its role will continue to grow.

What is the secret of APEC's success? We can find the answer to this question in the concluding statement of the first APEC ministerial meeting that took place in November 1989 in Canberra.

It emphasizes that the organization will build cooperation based on principles such as recognition of the differing social and economic systems and levels of development of the APEC's Member Economies, voluntary choice, commitment to open...