China is starting to prepare the big direction of APEC 2026. The focus includes trade, connectivity, innovation, and development in the Asia-Pacific region.
China Daily quoted Tuesday, May 19, reported that Deputy Foreign Minister of China Ma Zhaoxu said Beijing was drafting a roadmap for the Asia-Pacific community. China is also preparing a framework for collective action among APEC members.
The statement was made by Ma at the opening of the Second Meeting of APEC Senior Officials China 2026 in Shanghai, Monday. The two-day meeting was held to review progress, finalize the expected results, and prepare the APEC agenda for the second half of this year.
China will host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. This is the third time China has hosted the forum. Previously, China hosted in Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014.
Meetings of senior officials are the main channel for preparing the results to be brought to the leaders' meeting. The first meeting this year was held in Guangzhou in February. The third meeting is scheduled to take place in Dalian, Liaoning Province, in August.
Ma said the world economy was under pressure. Unilateralism and protectionism were increasing. Geopolitical conflicts had an impact on many sectors. The energy and food crises also cast a shadow over the global economic outlook.
However, according to Ma, Asia-Pacific is still maintaining a relatively fast growth rate. This region is also increasingly prominent as the world's growth engine.
One of the important agendas that China is pushing is the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area or FTAAP. This term refers to the idea of a wider free trade area among APEC member economies.
"We must ensure that the FTAAP becomes the main channel and carry out flexible and pragmatic cooperation," Ma said, as quoted by China Daily.
He said the FTAAP needed to coordinate the various existing free trade lanes. The goal is for all parties to have a better capacity to participate in high-standard regional economic and trade rules.
China also targets concrete results in trade digitization and cooperation in the service sector. In addition, Beijing wants to draw up a blueprint for new connectivity after the final evaluation of the APEC Connectivity Blue Print 2015-2025.
From Indonesia, Director General of Asia Pacific and Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Santo Darmosumarto, stated that the meeting showed China's commitment to strengthening the multilateral trading system.
Santo said Indonesia supports China as the host of APEC 2026. He also emphasized the importance of stronger and freer trade cooperation in the region.
According to Santo, the large economies in APEC need to work together so that global conflicts and uncertainties do not put too much pressure on the lives of ordinary people.
Mexican official Jose Alberto Guadarrama Grimaldo said cooperation was important to share best practices and strengthen capacity towards a more integrated Asia-Pacific.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Singapore National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation Tan Khee Giap said that APEC's current important task is to strengthen confidence in the forum as an inclusive forum.
The series of APEC 2026 meetings in China will be a space for members to discuss the direction of regional economic cooperation amid trade war pressures, energy crises, and global uncertainties.
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