The Pulse

Is India’s APEC Membership on the Table at this Year’s Summit?

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The Pulse

Is India’s APEC Membership on the Table at this Year’s Summit?

India’s decades-old ambition for APEC membership may be more plausible today than ever.

Is India’s APEC Membership on the Table at this Year’s Summit?
Credit: Attila JANDI via Shutterstock.com

When leaders from the 21 member states of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meet for the group’s annual summit in Manila later this year, they should finally consider India’s request for membership, according to the recommendations of a policy task force led by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). Rudd, along with Ajay Banga, chief executive officer of Mastercard and another member of the high-level task force, wrote in favor of India’s accession to APEC in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year as well.

New Delhi has sought to join the group to no avail for more than twenty years. In recent years, India has slowly started to gain the support of the United States for its bid to become more involved in APEC. In 2011, the United States invited India to participate in APEC as an observer (the forum met in Hawaii that year). Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of Indian membership in APEC when he met U.S. President Barack Obama in January, when the U.S. president visited New Delhi as the guest of honor for India’s Republic Day parade, and Obama expressed support for India’s membership in the organization. In addition to the United States, Russia and China have also welcomed India’s participation in APEC.

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