Russia applies to join APEC, TV report says

Russia applies to join APEC, TV report says

SINGAPORE (Reuter); Russia has officially applied to join the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Singapore state
television reported yesterday.

The report said Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander
Panov announced the move in an address to the Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies.

Panov was in Singapore on a two-day visit and was to leave the
island republic later yesterday.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrote to Japanese Prime
Minister Tomiichi Murayama earlier this month indicating Moscow's
intention to apply for APEC membership.

Japan is due to host the third annual APEC summit meeting in
November, which is expected to consider expanding the
organization.

India, Vietnam, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mongolia, Laos and
Panama have also indicated an interest in joining the economic
grouping.

APEC groups 18 Asia-Pacific nations: the United States,
Canada, Mexico, Chile, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.

After admitting Papua New Guinea and Chile at its annual
ministerial meeting in Seattle in November 1993, the organization
announced a three-year moratorium on membership.

Pressures however mounted on the group to open up its doors
faster after APEC leaders, at the summit meeting in Bogor,
Indonesia, last November announced their intention to move
towards a free trade area for the region by the year 2020.

One of the criteria of joining APEC is that a member must
follow a market-oriented economic system, one of the reasons why
APEC had earlier been reluctant to admit Russia.