SINGAPORE: Comprising 21 countries and regions, it is one of the foremost economic groupings in the world. Together, the member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum account for about half of global trade.

Into its 20th year, the forum continues to be one of the few meetings that gather leaders of Asia and the United States every year.

APEC leaders have set the goal of realizing free trade in its region by 2010 for developed members and 2020 for developing ones, while officials maintain that the grouping's nonbinding arrangements have accelerated economic integration by moving beyond broad trade liberalization to specifically reducing business costs and barriers through regulatory reforms.