Russia applies to join APEC, TV report says<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuter); Russia has officially applied to join the
\nAsia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Singapore state
\ntelevision reported yesterday.<\/p>\n
The report said Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander
\nPanov announced the move in an address to the Institute of
\nSoutheast Asian Studies.<\/p>\n
Panov was in Singapore on a two-day visit and was to leave the
\nisland republic later yesterday.<\/p>\n
Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrote to Japanese Prime
\nMinister Tomiichi Murayama earlier this month indicating Moscow's
\nintention to apply for APEC membership.<\/p>\n
Japan is due to host the third annual APEC summit meeting in
\nNovember, which is expected to consider expanding the
\norganization.<\/p>\n
India, Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mongolia, Laos and
\nPanama have also indicated an interest in joining the economic
\ngrouping.<\/p>\n
APEC groups 18 Asia-Pacific nations: the United States,
\nCanada, Mexico, Chile, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong,
\nTaiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the
\nPhilippines, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
After admitting Papua New Guinea and Chile at its annual
\nministerial meeting in Seattle in November 1993, the organization
\nannounced a three-year moratorium on membership.<\/p>\n
Pressures however mounted on the group to open up its doors
\nfaster after APEC leaders, at the summit meeting in Bogor,
\nIndonesia, last November announced their intention to move
\ntowards a free trade area for the region by the year 2020.<\/p>\n
One of the criteria of joining APEC is that a member must
\nfollow a market-oriented economic system, one of the reasons why
\nAPEC had earlier been reluctant to admit Russia.<\/p>",
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