VIEW FROM THE 19th FLOOR: Reflections of the first APEC Executive Director is, in the words of the author, "part narrative, part case study and part of my own thoughts about where APEC should be headed". In 1993, United States Ambassador William Bodde was sent to Singapore to set up a new economic organization. Bodde clearly relished the challenge of establishing a brand new international economic organization in the most dynamic region of the world. Instructed to keep the Secretariat small, effective and financially accountable, he describes his efforts to build a functioning, cross-cultural institution in less than a year. He also has to satisfy the fifteen-member economies spanning the Pacific that the organization reflected the wishes of all APEC members and not just those of the United States! This account, in addition to serving as a case study in international public administration, chronicles the meetings of the APEC Senior Officials and Ministers leading up to the historic APEC Leader's Meeting in Seattle at the end of 1993. He concludes the monographs with a number of provocative organizational and policy recommendations for the future of APEC.

Ippei Yamazawa is one of the fathers to the study of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation in Japan and has contributed hugely to the development and work of APEC over many years. APEC is a crucial trans-regional arrangement that draws the United States into constructive economic engagement with East Asia. This book makes it clear why APEC remains such a crucial element of regional economic architecture and defines an agenda going forward to which regional leaders should aspire. Here is a first rate exposition of the priorities for regional cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. --Peter Drysdale, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University

APEC is an experimental multilateralism, relying not on a large bureaucracy but rather upon national government agencies, semi-autonomous inter-governmental committees and "virtual" associations. Organized around the principles of consensus, voluntarism and unilateralism, APEC has eschewed binding agreements enforced through monitoring and robust compliance mechanisms. This volume assesses the strengths and weaknesses of APEC's "soft" institutionalism, and its capstone policy report, "Remaking APEC", identifies reforms that would close the credibility gap between APEC's promises and accomplishments. Chapters by leading scholars at APEC Study Centres investigate APEC's core agenda -- trade and investment liberalization and capacity-building -- delve into the inner workings of APEC's bureaucracy, and explore APEC's interactions with civil society, including the private sector and NGOs. This volume contains both the policy report and in-depth specialized studies. It is the product of the APEC International Assessment Network (APIAN), a collaborative, independent project among participating APEC Study Centres. APIAN's first major study, Assessing APEC's Progress: Trade, Ecotech and Institutions was also published by ISEAS (2001).

Spanning 20 years of history, the achievements of APEC may seem uneventful in the eyes of some observers. Yet careful deliberation will point to APEC's many remarkable high points as well as some of the challenges. The foundations of APEC were set in place about 40 years ago based on the achievements of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). One of the cornerstones of APEC's vision is to achieve a free and open trade area among its member economies. This vision is anchored in the Bogor Goals that remain the centrepiece of the APEC process. The Bogor Goals represent a cause for celebration as well as angst. Celebration because the region has moved towards achieving a much more liberalized environment of trading and investment since 1989, angst because the deadlines for achieving the goals have not yet been fully realized. Today, APEC embraces many of the world's dynamic developed and developing economies that are better poised to meet the new challenges of this century. For those seeking to get a quick sweep of APEC, this book recalls, reflects and provides enough food for thought on the possible remake of APEC. The chapters are carefully written by experts who have been directly involved in the APEC process one way or another. The invaluable insights serve to place the whole APEC process in a balanced perspective, yet with candid deliberations.