Established in 1989, APEC is comprised of 21 member economies, including the United States, and works to fosters growth and prosperity by facilitating economic cooperation and expanding trade and investment throughout the region.
Marco Simoni, political economist at the European Institute of the LSE, believes a "slow decay" of member state economies is the biggest risk to the EU and countries should not assume they are immune from financial collapse as soon as they sign up.
He says they turned a blind eye to the fundamental weaknesses and imbalances of member states' economies.
In its half-yearly economic outlook, the group expects its member countries' economies to shrink by 4.1% this year, while government efforts stand in the way of further declines.
It was during those years that Italy experienced the boom that established it as one of Europe's leading economies and a member of the Group of Seven.
Brazil is not the only member of the Bric group of economies that is experiencing a slowdown.
Beyond Asia, as the world's largest multiethnic democracy, as one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and as a member of the G20, India will play a pivotal role in meeting the major challenges we face today.
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Under current arrangements, member countries simply lack the ability to stimulate their economies, as monetary policy resides solely in the hands of the ECB.
Mr Kok praised Nordic governments for the way they were running their economies, but he said other EU member states "had not delivered enough".
As opposed to having Greece deal with its own debt issues, using their own fiscal, monetary and currency, measures, EU countries now have to coordinate the opinions of the 26 other member countries and factor in the implications on 27 different economies and cultures with a single, coordinated currency and interest rate framework.
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Because all member states share the same nominal interest rate, slow-growing economies with lower inflation, such as Germany and Italy, have higher real interest rates than fast growers, such as Spain and Greece.
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