SAN FRANCISCO /California/, November 18. /TASS/. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states support necessary reform aimed at improving the efficiency of the World’s Trade Organization’s activities, according to the APEC joint ministerial statement.

"Our region’s economic growth continues to be underpinned by the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core. To ensure that its vital role continues, we support necessary reform to improve all of the WTO’s functions, so that Members can better achieve the WTO’s foundational objectives and address existing and emerging global trade challenges," the document reads.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation comprises 19 countries and 2 territories. These include 12 founding economies: Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan. Other members are China (joined in 1991), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), Russia, Vietnam and Peru (1998). Two Chinese territories, Hong Kong and Taiwan, joined APEC in 1991.