Message from the Chairman

Karan K. Bhatia, General Electric Company

Welcome to the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the only national business organization focused exclusively on issues affecting U.S. companies doing business throughout the entire Asia Pacific region -- a region which is home to approximately 60% of world GDP and 50% of global trade. The National Center is a private, non-profit U.S. organization, supported by a Board of member companies that includes some of America's leading firms. Our mission is stimulate and facilitate U.S. private sector engagement and to communicate private sector priorities in APEC. We do this by supporting the efforts of the private sector actors in the region, and providing a link between business and the government policy community to develop and advance a common agenda.

The National Center works in close cooperation with the Departments of State, Commerce and Treasury, as well as with the Office of the United States Trade Representative and other government agencies with an aim to advancing the business community's trade agenda. We also serve as secretariat for the three presidentially- appointed U.S. members of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). This Council, a body of leading business and private sector representatives each of the 21 APEC members, is unique among private sector advisory bodies in that it is an official and integral element of the official APEC policy process, meeting personally with the Leaders annually during the APEC Leaders' Summit.

Through the National Center’s efforts, many initiatives developed by U.S. industry have been endorsed and promoted by the full ABAC, and subsequently formally incorporated into APEC’s agenda. Through its work with the U.S. ABAC members and direct cooperation with U.S. companies to facilitate their participation in the APEC process, the Center has helped achieved great success on many of these initiatives in APEC. In addition to promoting broad policy objectives, the National Center works with individual companies to promote projects on specific issues of key interest to those companies within the APEC framework.

The United States will host APEC in 2011, and the National Center already has begun work with the U.S. government and other private sector associations to develop and administer the business agenda and the private sector effort in support of this tremendous opportunity. We look forward to playing a leading role in organizing and executing the wide range of business activities that will be a key aspect of this exciting year.

I encourage you to familiarize yourself with our website and to contact the National Center directly for further information or answers to your questions.

Sincerely,

Karan Bhatia