Have you heard about the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)? Chances are that you might have… and is now thinking about Barack Obama—the US president will be attending the APEC CEO Summit this weekend.


What is APEC?
In less than 30 words:

APEC is a forum that facilitates economic growth and prosperity within Asia-Pacific across borders, through policy alignment and economic and technical cooperation. Its goal: free, open trade and investment for its 21 APEC economies.

This year’s APEC Singapore 2009 (Nov 8-15) theme is ‘Sustaining Growth, Connecting the Region’. The focus is on positioning for economic recovery, supporting multilateral trading systems and accelerating regional economic integration.

NO! APEC IS NOT JUST ABOUT OBAMA

Er, okay. So what about it?
If you do a search on 'APEC' in Googlism, you will get an indication of what Google—and essentially everyone in cyberspace whose opinions get picked up by the search engine—thinks of APEC:

Check out these statements. Are they true? How relevant is APEC to the man in the street? Can we youth be meaningfully involved?

Tough questions. And you know what? We don’t have the answers either. So this is Youth.SG’s challenge to you this week: find out for yourself.

I'll bite. How do I get closer?
Running alongside APEC Singapore 2009 is Voices of the Future (VOF), an annual youth event for youth leaders to engage government and business leaders on issues relevant to APEC. This year, 120 youth delegates (40 from Singapore; 80 from other APEC economies) will come together and even bring you daily musings on what goes on.

Registration for VOF is now closed (VOF has already started), but you can live APEC vicariously through these 120 youth in these el cheapo no-need-to-pay-$1,000 ways:

1. Daily reflections

“General reports and reflections” based on the VOF programme. We recommend you check this every day for updates. The APEC CEO Summit takes place on Fri and Sat (Nov 13-14), but we especially recommend checking after Mon night’s (Nov 8) skills-building session—get an insight into the delegates’ preparations for this important part of their lives. LINK


2. Interviews

You might see any one of 31 leaders from President Nathan to Time International editor Michael Elliott getting interviewed here by the youth delegates. LINK


3. Facebook

Because you are already on Facebook. Be a member of VOF’s Facebook group and join in the merry greetings and discussions here! Of additional note: Facebook probably hosts the only online discussion forum for VOF. LINK


4. Twitter

If you like your APEC updates swift and pithy, follow the delegates on Twitter here. LINK


5. Tell Youth.SG about the APEC mutterings that are going around in your head right now:

"I THINK THAT..."

... and of course, read the papers (bet you already know that!). MediaCorp will be broadcasting APEC highlights, so do catch these too!

Have fun! LCL

APEC Singapore 2009 takes place in Singapore from Nov 8-15.