Working Level - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

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How APEC Operates

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Working Level

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APEC's working level activities and projects are guided by APEC Senior Officials from the 21 APEC Member Economies. These activities and projects are carried out by four high level committees:

Committee on Trade and Investment
Senior Officials' Meeting Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation
Economic Committee
Budget and Management Committee

Sub-Committees, Experts' Groups, Working Groups and Task Forces all support the activities and projects led by these four high level committees.

Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM)
Working under direction from APEC Ministers, Senior Officials guide the activities of the Committees, Working Groups and Task Forces. Senior Officials develop recommendations for APEC Ministers and APEC Economic Leaders. Senior Officials' Meetings are held three to four times a year with the chair from the host economy.

Committees, Working Groups, SOM Task Groups
A brief description of the Committees, Working Groups and SOM Task Groups is given below. Additional information on the groups can be accessed via the APEC Groups link on this page.

Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)
The Committee on Trade and Investment coordinates APEC's work on the liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment. The Committee on Trade and Investment also works to reduce impediments to business activity through its Sub-Committees and Experts' Groups.

SOM Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation
The SOM Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation assists APEC Senior Officials in coordinating and managing APEC's economic and technical cooperation agenda, as well as identifying initiatives for cooperative action by member economies.

Economic Committee (EC)
The Economic Committee (EC) has a mandate to promote structural reform within APEC by undertaking policy analysis and action-oriented work. The EC progresses this mandate in close coordination with other relevant APEC fora; for instance, the Strengthening Economic and Legal Infrastructure (SELI) group, the Competition Policy and Deregulation Group (CPDG) and the Finance Ministers' Process (FMP).

Budget and Management Committee (BMC)
The Budget and Management Committee advises the SOM on budgetary, administrative and managerial issues. It also monitors and evaluates project management aspects of the operations of Committees and Working Groups and makes recommendations to SOM for improved efficiency and effectiveness.

Working Groups
Working Groups carry out APEC's work in specific sectors as directed by APEC Economic Leaders, APEC Ministers, APEC Sectoral Ministers and Senior Officials. There are currently 11 Working Groups.

SOM Special Task Groups/Ad-hoc Groups
Senior Officials set Special Task Groups to identify issues and make recommendations about important areas for APEC's consideration. Ad-hoc Groups have also been established in APEC to provide topical and relevant information or to fulfill important tasks not being covered by other groups.