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.