China willing to work with parties for fruitful APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, says top diplomat

China is willing to work with all parties to do a good job in the final stage of the 2026 APEC "China Year" and contribute to the fruitful results at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

The upcoming leaders' meeting is an important one concerning the future development of the Asia-Pacific region, Wang said when co-chairing the 37th APEC Ministerial Meeting via video conference with Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

China will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in south China's Shenzhen on November 18-19, which will mark the country's third hosting of the event following Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014. The theme of this year's summit is "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together," while China has identified openness, innovation and cooperation as the three priority areas for this year's APEC cooperation.

More than 300 meetings and events have been successfully held during the APEC "China Year," producing a series of cooperation outcomes, said Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Expressing readiness to work with all members to make solid and substantive progress in building an Asia-Pacific community, he called on members to uphold mutual respect, deepen solidarity, foster an open environment and sustain the momentum of integration.

He said all members should jointly build an innovation ecosystem to cultivate new growth drivers, and expand pathways for cooperation and achieve sustainable development.

APEC parties should continue to contribute practical and effective "Asia-Pacific solutions" to the development of the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said.

He noted the international situation is fraught with changes and turmoil, risks of fragmentation in industrial and supply chains are mounting, and the world economy is growing sluggishly.

He called on all APEC parties to uphold free trade and innovation-driven development, foster a vibrant engine for growth, advance discussions and policy coordination on digital and intelligent economic and trade rules, and build a fair and equitable international economic and trade order.

China will always stay committed to promoting high-level opening up, fully implementing national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises, and encouraging the open-source development and cooperation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the commerce minister noted.

Representatives of APEC economies and other participants commended the progress of cooperation in various fields and the extensive consensus reached by all parties during the APEC "China Year," expressing their willingness to work with China for the success of the leaders' meeting.