Tiriti Analysis
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation And The Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement
APEC & IPETCA
First Indigenous co-governance of a trade arrangement
Countries Involved
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam.
APEC was created in 1989 and its 21 member “economies” from the Asia Pacific meet annually, with a different chair each year.
APEC is not a trade agreement, although many of its participating “economies” support a mega-regional free trade agreement. Its working groups on specific topics are often incubators for policies and texts that end up in FTAs. They have formal relationships with several business groupings.
New Zealand was the chair in 1989 (when there were big protests) and 2021 during Covid, when the Crown promoted “APEC Maori Success 2021”. Ngā Toki Whakarururanga was key to developing a relationship agreement, Te Rangitūkupu, and the Indigenous People’s Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement (IPETCA), with a Partnership Council of equal Indigenous and State representation. The Council is co-chaired by Co-convenor Pita Tipene and Traci Houpapa from FoMA and two Crown representatives.
Maui Solomon, a pūkenga, represents Ngā Toki Whakarururanga. A Tiriti Audit designed by Ngā Toki was conducted at the end of the APEC year, highlighting a number of problems in the Crown’s approach. No audit has yet been conducted of IPETCA.
Our Analysis And Commentary On APEC
Indigenous Peoples Economic And Trade Cooperation Arrangement
Te Rangitūkupu
MOU to form a basis for the partnership between MFAT and Māori entities to work together on hosting APEC 2021