Established in 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional forum for promoting sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region through greater economic integration, technical cooperation, and free and open trade and investment. The United States was one of the founding members of APEC, which is now composed of 21 member economies[i]. Collectively, APEC economies account for nearly half of global GDP and global trade, and over 60 percent of global energy consumption. As such, energy cooperation is a key element of APEC’s multilateral agenda.
The APEC Energy Working Group (EWG) was launched in 1990 to convene policy officials and technical experts from all APEC economies to discuss and address energy challenges, facilitate energy-related trade and investment and maximize the energy sector’s contribution to the region’s economic and social well-being, while mitigating the environmental effects of energy supply and use. The United States works with the APEC EWG works to build the capacity of APEC members to strengthen domestic and regional energy security and resilience, promote clean energy development and deployment, and promote the diversification of fuels and sources. These efforts are facilitated by information and data exchanges, joint research and development, and public-private dialogues to promote open energy-related trade and investment.
DOE’s Office of International Affairs represents the United States in the APEC Energy Working Group. Through collaboration with key partners across the APEC region, the Department is working to advance U.S. energy priorities, seek opportunities for collaboration, collectively address regional energy security challenges, and facilitate a sustainable energy future.
For more information, please refer to the following: APEC website, APEC Energy page and APEC Energy Working Group website.
[i]APEC member-economies include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.