APEC'S IMPORTANT GLOBAL ROLE
POSITION OF APEC IN THE WORLD
The Asia Pacific represents 40% of the world's Population, with over two billion people, 53% of total worldwide GNP or more than US$ 21 trillion in 1991, and 41% of total worldwide trade. Representing a community of economies, which is highly interdependent and yet tremendously diverse, APEC is a testing ground for an entirely new approach to regional cooperation among economies.
DYNAMIC ECONOMIC GROWTH CONTINUES
The foundation for the success of the Asia Pacific economies over the past half-century has been the multilateral free trade system. It is an utmost priority for APEC members not only to support the openness of this system at its current levels, but to promote progressive development towards even further advances in the free trade and investment environments.
As witnessed by the impressive GDP growth levels of the People's Republic of China--13.2% in 1992 and 13.4% in 1993--the Asia Pacific continues to be a center for the world's most dynamic economic activity. Similarly, GDP growth in 1993 was recorded at an average of 5.7% for the newly industrializing economies (NIEs) and 6.4% for Southeast Asia. Forecasts suggest that these high growth marks will be maintained at least through 1994 and 1995.
Another bright sign for the Asia Pacific is the emergence of the industrialized economies from economic stagnation, providing new vitality for intraregional trade and investment. The United States economy expanded 2.6% in 1992 and 3.0% in 1993, and aims to surpass these figures in 1994. Japan, after slumping to 0.1% GDP growth in 1993, is slowly recovering from its economic doldrums and moving steadily in the direction of a full return to economic health.
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