The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)  strives for freer trade, smoother flow of people, and digital and gender-based inclusiveness among its 21 member economies that includes the US, China, Russia and Japan.

But unlike its policy-based peer ASEAN, APEC is a cooperative, discussive and non-binding platform. So how does it achieve its goals when its biggest members are increasingly anti-globalisation?

Tan Sri Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, discusses.