Terms of reference

On 26 June 1997 the Senate referred the following matter to the Committee for inquiry and report by 1 July 1998:

Australia in relation to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) with particular reference to:

APEC's progress towards Australia's economic, trade and regional objectives and the domestic implications;
the benefits of 'open regionalisation' versus a free trade bloc;
the importance to APEC of subregional groupings including the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM), East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) and Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement (CER); and
future directions of APEC.