About the Centre
Summary
The Australian APEC Study Centre at RMIT is a leading centre in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of advocacy of APEC’s objectives of promoting open trade and investment, structural reform and regional integration through training programs, supporting institutional capacity building, symposia, dialogues and publications. It does this together with its component facility, the Melbourne APEC Finance Centre.
For more information, see our brochure.
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History
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its inception in 1989 it has grown to encompass 21 members spanning four continents, and represents the most economically dynamic region in the world, accounting for approximately 40.5 % of the world’s population, 54.2 % of world GDP and 43.7 % of world trade. * Figures provided from the APEC Secretariat
At the APEC Leaders Summit in 1993, all APEC member economies agreed to establish APEC Study Centres in the higher education sector to promote APEC’s goals and objectives.
The Australian Government awarded the right to open The Australian APEC Study Centre to a consortium consisting of Monash University and the University of New South Wales. From 1997 to 2009 the Centre was administered solely by Monash University.
Due to the success of its programs in Melbourne, in 2007, the State Government of Victoria funded the establishment of the Melbourne APEC Finance Centre as a component facility of the Australian APEC Study Centre.
With the agreement of major stakeholders, both Centres were transferred from Monash to RMIT University’s College of Business in April 2009, under RMIT’s Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business).
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Mission Statement and Objectives
The mission and objectives of the Australian APEC Study Centre are:
- To support Australia’s involvement in promoting APEC’s objectives for the integration of economies of the region and social and humanitarian advancement.
- To be a centre of excellence for regional institutional capacity building in policy areas relating to trade, finance, investment, structural reform and the environment.
- To position Victoria as an international provider of financial services education and expertise, and as an international financial services centre, particularly in areas related to pensions and funds management, infrastructure financing and related risk management, and services related to clean development.
- To promote Australian strategic and economic interests in the region through cooperation with Australian Government, the State Government of Victoria and RMIT University.
- To organise conferences, workshops, regional dialogues, symposia, research and training programs involving regional and international policy makers, regulators and businesses in support of APEC’s objectives and wider regional interests.
- To cooperate with RMIT in defining and promoting interests in the region and to disseminate information and materials related to business, regulatory and academic activities.
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Scope
The Centre’s scope is broad and varied. It incorporates the following areas:
- Trade and investment liberalisation
- Trade and environment issues
- Structural reform and economic integration
- The region’s financial systems and enhancement of supervisory and regulatory capacities in banking, insurance (general and life), pensions, funds and asset management
- Pension system supervision and reform
- Agricultural systems reforms and food security
- Risk management and governance in financial sectors
- Infrastructure financing and managing risk
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Capacity Building Training Programs
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Over the last nine years, the Australian APEC Study Centre, and more recently the Melbourne APEC Finance Centre, have provided specialist training for policy makers and financial system regulators from APEC and other Asia-Pacific regional economies in trade, investment, structural reform, environment and financial sector services. Financial services programs are developed under the Managing Regulatory Change program.
Topics covered in recent training programs have included: investment flows in APEC economies; prudential supervisory capacity in non-life insurance; risk management and governance in banking; liberalisation of financial services in the WTO Doha Round; structural adjustment in agriculture; structural reform as the drivers of economic growth.
Since mid 2007, the Melbourne APEC Finance Centre and the Asia Finance Development Centre in Shanghai (AFDC) have provided joint programs to promote enhanced risk management and governance in the APEC region, and to foster Australian, Chinese and Victorian relations through high-level roundtable dialogues.
For more information about programs related to finance, see our Melbourne APEC Finance Centre website.
All the training programs that have been delivered by the Centre can be viewed here.
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Conferences, Symposia and Dialogues
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The Centre hosts conferences, symposia and dialogues to promote regional understanding, the exchange of information and experience sharing between regional and international policy makers and regulators, the private sector and academia.
Some of the topics have included: private pensions, funds and asset management; managing climate change in a post-Kyoto future; conferences on various bilateral Free Trade Agreements; managing the impact of anti-terrorism security measures on trade.
In 2007 the Centre also hosted the Annual Conference of APEC Centres in Melbourne as part of Centre’s commitment to APEC Australia 2007. To see the website that was created for that conference, click here.
Papers from conferences, symposia and dialogues delivered by the Centre can be viewed here.
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Publications and Policy Focus
The Australian APEC Study Centre and other associates of the Centre have published research and issues papers on matters important to APEC. These have contributed to fostering debate and understanding within Governments, the private sector, academia, both in Australia and throughout APEC economies.
Research papers produced by the Centre are available here.
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International Networks
The Australian APEC Study Centre is part of an international network of APEC Study Centres throughout the Asia-Pacific. Known as the ASC Consortium, this network meets annually through consortium meetings to raise awareness of challenges facing APEC economies and the region. In 2007, as part of Centre’s commitment to APEC Australia 2007, the Australian APEC Study Centre hosted the Consortium meeting in Melbourne.
For more information about the international ASC Consortium, click here.
Over the years, the Centre has established links and collaborations with key regional and international institutions, including the OECD, the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and the Asia Finance and Development Centre of Shanghai (AFDC).
The Centre has also undertaken joint projects with the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) in Manila, Thammasat University in Bangkok, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, Peking University, the AFDC in Shanghai, the APEC Environment Centre in Beijing, and with many other Ministries and institutes in the region.
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Education and Knowledge Management
The Australian APEC Study Centre, together with the Melbourne APEC Finance Centre (MAFC) promotes education awareness and discourse on contemporary economic and social issues through this website, particularly in the Links and Resources section. Papers from programs and events are also available through this site.
The Centre also publishes regular electronic newsletters, reports and papers that increase the awareness of the activities and objectives of APEC. Click to view the latest edition of APEC Currents or MAFC Quarterly
The Australian APEC Study Centre also hosts the Annual APEC Lecture. Past lectures have been delivered by prominent lecturers like the Australian Foreign Minister, the Australian Opposition Leader, the then Director-General of the WTO and the former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
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Centre Governance
The Centre is supported by an Advisory Board, chaired by Bruce Kean AM with membership made up by Michael Duffy, Ambassador Dick Woolcott AO and Mark Johnson. The Board also has representatives from RMIT – Professor Gill Palmer and Professor Paul James – and a senior representative of the Victorian Government.
A range of senior representatives from the public sector, regulatory agencies, business and academia, including RMIT, serve on the Centre’s Financial Services Advisory Board and make a most significant contribution to the Centre’s finance sector related activities.
For more information about the board charter click here.
Centre Personnel
Chairman:Alan Oxley |
Director: Kenneth Waller |
Executive Manager: Margot Kilgour |
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Alan Oxley is Chairman of the APEC Study Centre and one of Australia's most authoritative advisers on international trade. Before establishing his consultancy in 1990, Alan was a career diplomat. He represented Australia in Singapore, at the United Nations in New York and in Geneva. He transferred to the Trade Department in 1985 and served as Australian Ambassador to the GATT, the predecessor of the World Trade Organization, until 1989. He played a key role in creating the groundbreaking coalition of agricultural exporters, known as the Cairns Group. He was the first Australian to serve as GATT Chairman, and has expertise in all areas of international trade from agriculture to services, intellectual property to government procurement, and in particular provisions of international trade agreements. He is internationally recognised as a commentator on trade issues and has advised developing economies on the structures and policies needed for WTO accession. Alan was author of the influential “An Australia-USA Free Trade Agreement: Issues and Implications” (2001), a report for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He also published, "Seize the Future" (2000), "International Trade and Environment Agreements on CD ROM"(1995), and "The Challenge of Free Trade" (1990). Alan graduated from Monash University with honours in 1970 where he studied Asian history and politics.
Ken Waller is currently the Chair of the Financial Services Advisory Board at the Australian APEC Study Centre and is Director of the Centre’s financial services programs. A graduate of London University, B.Sc. (Econ.), Ken spent nearly 30 years at the Australian Treasury. During that time he served as: Minister (Financial), at the Australian Embassy in Beijing and as Treasury Minister at the High Commission, London; Assistant Secretary responsible for Australia’s relations with the IMF, World Bank, ADB and the EBRD; Executive Director on the Board of the Asian Development Bank, Manila; and Assistant Secretary, Banking and Finance during a period of major reforms to the Australian financial system, 1982-88. Ken joined the Colonial Group in 1998 as Group Economic Advisor and, following the acquisition of Colonial by CBA in 2000, was appointed Group Economic Advisor to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a position he held until July 2006. He advised CBA on economic, political and business strategic developments in Asia and on relations with financial system regulators. He has worked with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) from 2000 and was also senior advisor to the ABAC Australia Secretariat. Ken is also an honorary Professor of Economics at Zhongnan University of Finance and Economics, Wuhan, China.
Margot Kilgour began with the Australian APEC Study Centre in May 2009.
Prior to this, she worked as a consultant advising international
companies on strategy, in product management for Origin Energy and in a
global analytical role for Lonely Planet Publications. Margot worked in
Vietnam for several years with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce for
Vietnam. In her role as project manager, she promoted Canadian business
interests by organizing seminars, training and social events. After,
that she worked as the sales and marketing manager for Colliers
International Vietnam. While finishing up her undergraduate degree she
worked as a research assistant with the Liu Centre for Global Issues at
the University of British Columbia. Margot has a BA in International
Relations and Political Science from the University of British Columbia
in Canada and a Masters of International Business from the University of
Melbourne.
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Centre Activity Reports
Annual reports of the Centre’s activities are available here:
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
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About RMIT University
RMIT University is one of Australia’s largest exporters of education services, with growing campuses in Vietnam and a major program in China under development.
The College of Business at RMIT, which runs one of the largest business faculties in Australia, is headed by Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), Professor Gill Palmer.
Click to read more about RMIT University.
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