APEC Final Senior Officials’ Meeting Held in Shenzhen, China; Key Agendas, Including ‘Building a Community That Prospers Together,’ Reviewed

[Financial News] The final review of key agenda items for the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting (APEC Summit), to be held in Shenzhen, China, on the 18th and 19th, has been completed. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 15th, the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM: Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting) for APEC in Shenzhen, China, attended by 21 APEC member economies, was held in Shenzhen on the 14th and 15th. The members agreed to continue working together to ensure the successful holding of the APEC Summit on the 19th and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening regional economic cooperation for sustainable growth and shared prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
Held under the theme proposed by China, this year’s host, of “Building an Asia-Pacific Community That Prospers Together,” the meeting concluded a year of APEC discussions in four areas—trade, connectivity, innovation and development—and comprehensively reviewed the year’s activities and achievements.
They discussed the state of cooperation in key areas, including trade and investment and economic integration, connectivity, the digital economy and artificial intelligence (AI), structural reform, energy security, and economic and technical cooperation, as well as key deliverables to be achieved at the summit.
Park Jong-han, South Korea’s chief delegate and director general for economic diplomacy coordination, called for building on last year’s discussions and achievements to continue making progress in AI cooperation and efforts to respond to demographic change, and to develop these into ongoing APEC-level discussions and practical cooperation projects. He also stressed the importance of regional cooperation to strengthen the resilience of energy supply chains.
Senior officials also assessed this year’s activities and achievements at major APEC bodies, including the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), the Economic Committee (EC), the Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE), and the Budget and Management Committee (BMC).
A report on implementation of the Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap (AIDER) was used to review member economies’ activities in the digital economy and progress in implementing the APEC AI Initiative. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “As the host economy last year, our country will actively contribute to the successful holding of this year’s summit and the delivery of substantive outcomes.” 


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