|  Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC)
 |
| Chilean
Students greeting the Furman group at the Santiago, Chile
airport in 2004 |
Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), established in 1989, is an organization
comprised of twenty-one member economies from Asia and the Pacific
Rim. APEC’s mission is to gather its twenty-one member economies
together annually to discuss three main pillars: trade and investment
liberalization; business facilitation; and economic and technical
cooperation. Meetings, hosted by one of the twenty-one economies,
focus on the accomplishment of the Bogor Goals—free and open
trade, and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. To view the Bogor
Goals, click
here.
Students and
educators from Mexico, the United States and other APEC member economies
are invited to participate in APEC meetings through the program,
“Voices of the Future for APEC.” To date, Furman students
are the only U.S. undergraduates invited to the yearly gathering
with the Pacific Rim government and business leaders.
The Virtual
Trade Mission Foundation (VTM), located in Washington D.C., has
played a prominent role in the annual APEC conference since 1996.
VTM’s focus is to foster education and communication among
students, educators, business leaders and the media on the United
States’ involvement in the “New Global Economy.”
Through VTM, the “Voices of the Future for APEC” program
was implemented. VTM invites students from APEC member economies
to participate in the annual APEC CEO Summit and the APEC Business
Advisory Council (ABAC) meetings. Students conduct interviews, tour
trading facilities, and interact with one another, realizing VTM's
purpose is to expose students to a variety of cultures as well as
to create knowledgeable “citizen diplomats” from the
APEC economies.
The APEC CEO
Summit is a prestigious annual event that provides opportunities
for representatives of ABAC and other senior business leaders from
the Asia-Pacific region as well as students to hear from APEC Heads
of State and other high officials such as economists, policy makers
and other business leaders about relevant economic and trade issues.
The APEC Business
Advisory Council (ABAC) was created by the APEC Economic Leaders
in November 1995 to provide advice on the implementation of the
Osaka Action Agenda and on other specific business sector priorities,
and to respond when the various APEC fora request information about
business-related issues or to provide the business perspective on
specific areas of cooperation.
The “Voices
of the Future for APEC” strives to give students the opportunity
to interact with their peers of different cultures from the member
economies, while also providing students the opportunity to interview
APEC and CEO business leaders, and ABAC representatives.
During the
week, students from different member economies live with one another
and participate in group and individual activities that encourage
the sharing of cultures and knowledge of each person’s economy.
An international "Cultural Night" is also scheduled at
the beginning of the week, and students present skits and presentations
reflecting traditions unique to their economy. Students also bring
gifts to exchange among the member economies.
The students,
within their assigned groups, travel throughout the city, participate
in interviews at the CEO summit and APEC meeting venues, and gather
material reflecting what they have learned from their experiences.
Through Richard
W. Riley’s efforts to promote awareness of international affairs
and international involvement, the Riley Institute, in partnership
with the Virtual Trade Mission, sent Furman students and faculty
members to the APEC meeting held in Los Cabos, Mexico in 2002; Santiago,
Chile in 2004; Busan, South Korea in 2005, Hanoi, Socialist Republic
of Viet Nam in 2006 and Sydney, Australia in 2007. Travel is funded,
in part, by an endowment from the John I. Smith Foundation.
For
more information
and photos on each of these meetings, click on one the links located
on the right-hand side of this page.
For photos
from past APEC trips, click here.
For more information
on:
- APEC Peru
2008, click
here. To
view the students' blog, click
here.
- APEC Australia
2007, click
here. To
view the students' blog, click
here.
- APEC Vietnam
2006, click
here. To
view the students' blog, click
here.
- APEC Korea
2005, click
here.
- APEC Chile
2004, click
here.
- APEC Mexico
2002, click
here.
- The Virtual
Trade Mission, click
here.
|
