BRIEF HISTORY OF THE APPF

 

Preparatory Meetings

The first Preparatory Meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum was held at Singapore in August, 1991. Parliamentarians from nine countries, namely, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United States attended the meeting.

The second enlarged Preparatory Meeting was held at Canberra on 10 and 11 of December, 1991. Thirty-seven parliamentarians attended the meeting from fifteen countries (Australia, Brunei (observer status) Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States).

At the Canberra Meeting, the participants decided that the Inaugural Meeting of the APPF be held in 1992 either in Korea or in Japan and that the date be determined by the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, chaired by the Honorable Yasuhiro Nakasone, and consisting of an ASEAN country (Thailand), Australia, Japan, Korea and the United States, was established to make necessary arrangements for the Inaugural Meeting.

In February 1992, upon receiving the message from the Korean participants that Korea would not be able to host the Inaugural Meeting because of its presidential election, which was scheduled to be held in December, the Steering Committee consulted together about the date and venue of the Meeting. Consequently, the Committee decided, with the consensus agreement of the participants of the Canberra Meeting, that the Inaugural Meeting be held in Tokyo on the 14 and 15 of January, 1993.

Milestone Documents

At the Inaugural Meeting in 1993 in Tokyo, the Meeting formally adopted the Tokyo Declaration that officially established the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum as an inter-parliamentary organization, initially comprising 15 founding members. This Declaration sets up the basic organization of the APPF and it is considered its founding charter.

The Second Meeting in Manila, Philippines, adopted a resolution covering the rules of procedure to apply in the management of the administrative matters of the APPF. Likewise, the Fourth Annual Meeting held in Thailand in 1994, adopted a resolution on the implementation of a Legislative Exchange System, which was the origin of the APOINT 2001 Operative Plan.

Subsequently, the Fifth Annual Meeting held in 1997 in Vancouver, Canada, adopted the Vancouver Declaration, another essential document which established the vision of the Asia Pacific region in the 21st century, and set the goals of the organization.

Later on, the 9th Annual Meeting adopted the Valparaiso Declaration on the Establishment of the Pacific Basin Charter on the 21st Century.

Below, there is a chronology of the APPF prepared by the House of Councillors of the National Diet of Japan on the occasion of the 20th Annual Meeting of this international organization.

 

Year	Date	Events	Member Countries (Total Membership) Observer countries and regions
1991	Aug. 26	Preparatory meeting for founding in Singapore Establishment of APPF agreed. Preparatory Committee established. Mr. NAKASONE Yasuhiro, former member of the House of Representatives, elected chairman of the committee.	Japan, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, United States of America (9)
1991	Dec. 10-11	Informal meeting in Canberra, Australia Preparatory Committee commissioned to decide the date of the general meeting for founding and takes charge of making recommendations to the general meeting (about membership, secretariat, relations with other organizations, etc.)	New members: China, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand (14) Brunei Darussalam
1993	Jan. 13-15	1st Annual Meeting in Tokyo (58 parliamentarians from 15 countries attending) “Tokyo Declaration”, setting the principle of activities, adopted	Brunei Darussalam
1994	Jan. 14-15	2nd Annual Meeting in Manila, Philippines APPF Procedure adopted	New members: Mongolia, Peru, Russian Federation (17) Brunei Darussalam
	Nov. 21-23	Executive Committee in Lima, Peru Unification with Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Leaders’ Forum (APPLF) and the establishment of council of executive parliamentarians consisting of Speakers, Presidents, Vice-Speakers, Vice-Presidents or heads of delegations	Brunei Darussalam
1995	Jan. 12-15	3rd Annual Meeting in Acapulco, Mexico Unification with APPLF approved	New members: Viet Nam, Cambodia, Chile, Fiji, Lao PDR, Malaysia (23) Brunei Darussalam
1996	Jan. 15-18	4th Annual Meeting in Cha-am, Thailand (114 parliamentarians from 24 countries attending) *Working group established to draw up New Vision of the Asia-Pacific Region in the 21st Century presented by Japan is established *Increase in the number of executive committee members (from 6 to 8) is approved	New member: Marshall Islands (24) Brunei Darussalam
1997	Jan. 7-10	5th Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada (92 parliamentarians from 22 countries attending) *Resolution to censure the terrorist attack on the Embassy of Japan in Lima, Peru adopted *“Vancouver Declaration” (New Vision of the Asia-Pacific Region in the 21st Century) *Working Committee on drawing up of the mechanism for parliamentary exchanges established	Brunei Darussalam
1997	Aug. 15-16	Meeting of the Working Committee on drawing up the mechanism for parliamentary exchanges in Cha-am, Thailand Mechanism for parliamentary exchanges given the name APOINT 2001, and discussion starts on technical issues
1998	Jan. 7-10	6th Annual Meeting in Seoul, South Korea (101 parliamentarians from 25 countries attending) Resolution on Asia-Pacific Art and Culture Festival adopted	Brunei Darussalam, Colombia
1999	Jan. 11–14	7th Annual Meeting in Lima, Peru (84 parliamentarians from 23 countries attending) *Number of Executive Committee members, their qualifications and term of office decided *Mr. NAKASONE Yasuhiro, former member of the House of Representatives, re-elected President of APPF *Executive Committee members elected	New member: Colombia (25) Brunei Darussalam
2000	Jan. 9–13	8th Annual Meeting in Canberra, Australia (109 parliamentarians from 24 countries attending) *Internet broadcasting of the meeting *Consideration of the establishment of round-table discussion for exchanging frank views	Brunei Darussalam
2000	Jan. 15–18	9th Annual Meeting in Valparaiso, Chile (154 parliamentarians from 26 countries attending) “Valparaiso Declaration” (Trans Pacific Regional Charter) adopted	New members: Ecuador, Costa Rica (27) Brunei Darussalam
2002	Jan. 6–9	10th Annual Meeting in Honolulu, United States (101 parliamentarians from 25 countries attending). Mr. NAKASONE Yasuhiro, former member of the House of Representatives re-elected President of APPF	Brunei Darussalam
2003	Jan. 12–15	11th Annual Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (101 parliamentarians from 25 countries attending) Executive committee members elected	Brunei Darussalam
2004	Jan. 11–14	12th Annual Meeting in Beijing, China (88 parliamentarians from 23 countries attending) *Mr. NAKASONE Yasuhiro becomes Honorable President *It is decided that the host country will appoint the president	Brunei Darussalam
2005	Jan. 9–13	13th Annual Meeting in Ha Noi and Ha Long City, Viet Nam (120 parliamentarians from 23 countries attending Special session held to discuss earthquake and tsunami disasters
2006	Jan. 15–19	14th Annual Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia (117 parliamentarians from 22 countries attending) It is specified for the first time in the joint communiqué that “the abduction issue was discussed at the Annual Meeting”	Brunei Darussalam
2007	Jan. 21–25	15th Annual Meeting in Moscow, Russia (159 parliamentarians from 24 countries attending) It is specified in the joint communiqué that North Korea’s nuclear test “threatens the stability of international peace”	Brunei Darussalam
2008	Jan. 20–24	16th Annual Meeting in Oakland, New Zealand (146 parliamentarians from 28 countries and 2 regions attending) *It is specified in the joint communiqué that “the abduction issue was discussed at the Annual Meeting” *6 countries and 2 regions of 14 member countries and 2 regions of Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) invited to the Annual Meeting as observers	Brunei Darussalam, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
2009	Jan 11–15	17th Annual Meeting in Vientiane, Laos (128 parliamentarians from 22 countries attending)	Brunei Darussalam
2010	Jan. 17–21	18th Annual Meeting in Singapore (121 parliamentarians from 21 countries attending)	Brunei Darussalam
2011	Jan. 23–27	19th Annual Meeting in Ulan Bator (107 parliamentarians from 19 countries attending) It is officially decided that the 20th Annual Meeting will be held in Tokyo	Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan