Assessing APEC's Role in Economic Integration in the Asia-Pacific Region

This article examines the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum as a new institution to promote economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC does not lend itself to straightfor- ward definition. Formed only recently in 1989, APEC is currently comprised of 18 member "economies"1 and is organized around a set of intergovernmental meetings. Its very nomenclature, APEC, lacks a descriptive noun.2