Open regionalism emerged as a guiding concept in the late 1980s and early 1990s, primarily associated with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum founded in 1989. It was articulated as an alternative to the inward-looking, preferential trade blocs of the era (such as the deepening European single market or NAFTA), proposing instead that regional economic cooperation should complement rather than undermine the multilateral trading system centered on the GATT and later the WTO.
The core idea is that liberalization measures agreed within a region should be extended, in practice, to non-members on a most-favored-nation basis, or at minimum should not raise new barriers against outsiders. APEC's 1994 Bogor Goals captured this spirit, committing industrialized members to free and open trade and investment by 2010 and developing members by 2020, without binding preferential tariffs against third parties.
Several features typically distinguish open regionalism from classical regional integration:
- Non-discrimination toward non-members where feasible
- Voluntary, non-binding commitments (so-called "concerted unilateralism" in the APEC model)
- Trade facilitation and behind-the-border cooperation rather than deep legal integration
- Consistency with WTO rules, particularly GATT Article XXIV and the Enabling Clause
Economists such as C. Fred Bergsten promoted the concept in the 1990s as a way to lock in liberalization momentum without fragmenting the global system. The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and ASEAN have also invoked the term, and it later appeared in discussions of Latin American integration, notably around the Pacific Alliance (founded 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru).
Critics argue open regionalism is conceptually vague and that, in practice, APEC's slow progress and the global proliferation of preferential trade agreements after 2000 have eroded its distinctiveness. Nonetheless, the term remains useful for describing cooperation frameworks that prioritize outward orientation, regulatory convergence, and compatibility with multilateral rules over exclusive preferential access.
Example
At the 1994 APEC summit in Bogor, Indonesia, leaders adopted the Bogor Goals committing to free and open trade in the Asia-Pacific by 2010/2020 on an open regionalism basis, extending liberalization broadly rather than as a preferential bloc.