In 2011, the United States will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for the first time in 18 years. Hosting will mean that the U.S. will organize various official meetings, informal meetings, bilateral meetings, media events and the 2011 Leaders’ Meeting.

Over the years, APEC has grown to become one of the world’s most important regional groupings. It is made up of 21 member economies and accounts for 2.7 billion people and represents approximately 54 percent of the world Gross Domestic Product and 44 percent of world trade. The 21 members are: Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; People’s Republic of China; Peru; Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States; and Vietnam.

APEC 2011 meetings will take place throughout the U.S. during the year. The U.S. will begin our hosting duties this December in Honolulu with the Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting.

There will be four main meetings in 2011. These meetings are called Senior Officials’ Meetings or SOMs and approximately 1,000-1,500 delegates will be in attendance at each SOM. The schedule for the SOMs is:

SOM I	Washington, D.C.	February 27-March 13, 2011
SOM II	Big Sky, MT	May 7-21, 2011
SOM III	San Francisco, CA	September 11-26, 2011
CSOM-Leaders’ Meeting	Honolulu, HI	November 12-20, 2011

The APEC Leaders’ Meeting is a global media event that will be the highlight of APEC 2011. The President of the United States, 18 other Heads of Government and representatives from Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) will be in attendance. In total, it is estimated that 20,000 participants will be involved in the APEC Leaders’ Meeting. Included in this total are support staff, security, media, businesspersons and government officials from all 21 member economies. This meeting will take place in Honolulu from November 12-20, 2011.

Legacy agencies of the Department of Homeland Security have been involved with APEC since the United States joined the organization in 1989. Legacy U.S. Customs Service participated as part of the U.S. delegation to the Committee on Trade and Investment. In 1994, CTI established sixteen sub-groupings and legacy U.S. Customs Service took the lead on the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures. Another sub-group is the Business Mobility Group. This group was represented by the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 2003, with the formation of DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection took the responsibility for both the SCCP and BMG.

The Office of International Affairs has worked hard to align CBP’s participation in APEC with our mission priorities of detecting and preventing terrorists from entering the U.S. while facilitating the efficient flow of legitimate trade and people. With APEC 2011, CBP will have a unique opportunity to influence APEC’s direction in the areas of customs and immigration.