ABSTRACT
The need for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) emerged from the reality of deepening economic integration of the East Asian, North American and Southwest Pacific economies during the period of sustained, rapid internationally oriented economic growth in East Asia. The increasing scale of Asia Pacific economic transactions and their expanding relative importance to all economies in the region generated awareness that national policy decisions taken in ignorance of their regional implications could damage a beneficent process of market integration. The success of economic integration in the Asia Pacific also generated awareness of the opportunity for further gains through the provision of a more certain and open environment for market exchange (Drysdale and Garnaut 1989, 1993; Yamazawa 1992; Garnaut 1996; Drysdale, Elek and Soesastro 1998).
