APEC 2026: 30 days to go until Shenzhen hosts world leaders

With about 30 days to go before Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meet in Shenzhen, China is entering the final stretch of its host year and the city steps up preparations.  

The 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19, with the APEC CEO Summit scheduled for November 17 and 18. 

On Wednesday, Shenzhen's APEC preparation group called for stronger coordination on conference services, security, healthcare, food safety, transportation, communications and volunteers. 

To keep the city moving, Shenzhen is launching a "Green Travel, Smooth Journey for All" plan. It includes adding more than 50 new bus-metro feeder routes, increasing bus services by 20%, and encouraging flexible work hours that week to ease commuting pressure.

The 2026 APEC agenda has been building since February, when delegates from the 21 member economies met in Guangzhou for the first Senior Officials' Meeting. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi set out three priorities: openness, innovation and cooperation. He called for a substantive outcome document at the leaders' meeting and greater progress in trade and investment, connectivity, the digital economy and inclusive development.

Over the spring and summer, meetings in Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Dalian focused on trade, supply chain resilience, AI and digital inclusion.

Now, the challenge is twofold: narrowing differences between 21 economies with diverse interests and levels of development, and translating a broad agenda into outcomes acceptable across the region.  

The Finance Ministers' Meeting in Hong Kong from October 19 to 21 will focus on regional economic and financial cooperation. The final Senior Officials' Meeting in Shenzhen on November 14 and 15 will set the stage for the leaders' arrival, while the fourth APEC Business Advisory Council meeting will bring business perspectives into regional economic priorities.

Wang said in March that China's central task as host was to translate the goal of building an Asia-Pacific community into action. For the remaining weeks, that means maintaining momentum on trade and investment, connectivity, innovation and development, while ensuring that the work of APEC's various mechanisms feeds into the leaders' discussions.

The meetings will test whether a broad regional agenda can be translated into practical cooperation at a time of trade frictions, technological change and wider uncertainty.