Why celebrate an anniversary? Applauding ourselves for another year in existence may not seem like a good use of time, energy or resources. However, at NCAPEC we chose to celebrate 25 years of efforts to bolster U.S. private sector engagement in the Asia-Pacific because our mission is more important now than ever before. The message that the U.S. business community is wholly committed to the Asia-Pacific needs forceful articulation.
American Business and APEC:
Achieving Prosperity through Enduring Cooperation
How we got here. Following the inaugural APEC Leaders Meeting held in Seattle in late 1993, twenty visionary American companies came together to establish a business organization based on a single compelling principle: the private sector should have a voice in APEC. In the 25 years since, NCAPEC has emerged as a leading advocate for free trade, open markets, and regional cooperation. The National Center’s vibrant network of relationships in business, government and academia throughout the region has developed through our work with the APEC Business Advisory Council and our active participation in APEC’s working groups and ministerial meetings.
What we have done. NCAPEC has a 25-year track record of shepherding innovative proposals from the private sector into the APEC process; many of APEC’s most successful initiatives can trace their beginnings to the leadership and advocacy of National Center for APEC Board members: These include:
- Information Technology Agreement
- Automotive Dialogue
- Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation
- Model Port and Secure Customs Projects
- APEC Food System
- Remanufacturing Pathfinder
- Life Sciences Innovation Forum
- Infrastructure Investment Checklist
- APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules
- Codes of Ethics and Anti-Corruption
- Asia-Pacific Financial Forum, among others.
APEC’s practice of holding high-level dialogues with the private sector along with sectoral Ministerial and and Senior Officials meetings on Trade, Health, Energy, Finance, Mining, Women’s Economic Empowerment and range of other issues, can trace its beginnings back to early NCAPEC and US-led ABAC initiatives. This is especially true in the case of the “re-imagining” of APEC and the CEO Summit which we undertook during 2011, when the United States chaired APEC.
Why it is important now. NCAPEC’s 25th Anniversary provides a unique opportunity to highlight not only the important role that the U.S. business community has played, but that the role it continues to play in APEC, particularly as the value of trade agreements is being questioned. In addition to our Board Members’ substantive contributions to APEC projects and initiatives, NCAPEC has also served as a standard bearer for the principles that underpin U.S. corporate engagement in the Asia-Pacific – integrity, sustainability, innovation, transparency, diversity, and inclusion. This milestone is also a chance to look to the future of trade in the Asia Pacific and enhance NCAPEC members’ contributions to APEC’s dialogues and programs with a focus on emerging issues that will determine the course of economic growth and regional prosperity in the 21st century.
What we plan to do. We will mark our 25th Anniversary by celebrating our accomplishments and charting the course ahead through several policy-focused events in the U.S. and Asia, as well as commemorative festivities that kicked-off in Port Moresby at the 2018 APEC meetings and will continue with gala events in Atlanta in March, and conclude in Santiago, Chile during APEC Leaders’ Week in November. Together with robust public outreach through social media and policy forum events, these efforts will underscore NCAPEC’s commitment to working in partnership with APEC economies to identify innovative solutions for the most important concerns facing the Asia-Pacific region.
What you can do: Join us. Now more than ever.
Regards,
Monica Hardy Whaley