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Handover Secretariat Responsibility
Ceremony from Malaysia Secretariat to New
Secretariat, People's Republic of China,
October 11, 2016
History
APEC
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an international forum composed of twenty-one member economies
within the Asia-Pacific region. Its purpose is “to sustain the growth and development of the region for the common good
of its peoples” by encouraging trade. APEC builds on WTO General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS)
principles for the progressive liberalisation of trade in services through the reduction of regulatory restrictions, leading to
reciprocal agreements between member economies where appropriate. You can access more information about APEC
here.

Beginnings
At its inception, the APEC Architect Project was an initiative of the APEC Human Resources Development Working
Group (HRDWG), one of a number of sectoral groups established to implement APEC programs. The project was
endorsed by the HRDWG at its year 2000 meeting in Brunei as a contribution to the Group’s strategic priority of
facilitating mobility of qualified persons by the mutual recognition of skills and qualifications.

A Steering Committee was formed by the APEC economies participating in the project to develop a mechanism by
which current restrictions on the professional recognition of architects from other economies would be reduced or
removed.

The Steering Committee first met in Sydney on 12 - 14 June 2002. Delegations attended from Australia (Chair),
People's Republic of China, Hong Kong China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Chinese Taipei and the
United States of America. As a result, a set of principles and an operational framework for the creation of an APEC
Architect Register were established.

Further meetings of the Steering Committee took place in Kuala Lumpur in December 2002, Taipei in February 2004
and Honolulu in September 2004. The minutes of those meetings can be viewed here.

APEC Architect Project Underway

The fourth meeting of the Steering Committee was also deemed to be the first provisional meeting of the APEC
Architect Central Council. At that meeting a programme was set for:

The establishment of the APEC Architect Secretariat in January 2005

The establishment of Monitoring Committees in each participating economy in March 2005
The first meeting of the Central Council in May 2005
The inauguration of the APEC Architect Register in May 2005.

Since then the Central Council has met every two years. The minutes of the Central Council can be viewed here.

Bilaterals
In addition, a number of participating economies have negotiated Mutual Recognition Arrangements for the cross-
border registration of APEC Architects as envisaged in the APEC Architect Framework, these being:

Chinese Taipei and Australia, 2007

Japan and Australia, 2008
Japan and New Zealand, 2009
Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, 2010
Chinese Taipei and New Zealand 2012.

More information and the texts of these arrangements can be viewed here.

Next?
Following the first cross-border registrations for individual APEC Architects in 2014, all economies, but especially those
with active Mutual Recognition Agreements formed under the APEC Architect Project Framework, are encouraged to
promote and encourage the movement of their APEC Architects across borders.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 January 2015 18:09

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