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The 2026 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is scheduled to kick off in Shenzhen, China's Guangdong Province in November, the third time China has hosted APEC after Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014.

The theme – Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together – is not merely a slogan. It is a test of whether the region can keep connecting goods, data, capital, people and ideas at a time when those connections are being reorganized. The most telling question in Asia-Pacific trade today is not whether globalization is retreating. It is what kind of globalization is replacing it.

For years, APEC's agenda has been described in the language of tariffs, supply chains and regional integration. Those issues remain essential. But they can feel abstract to the businesses and communities that must turn them into jobs, products and opportunities.

That is why entrepreneurs' thoughts about APEC matters. By inviting business tycoons from across the region to set out their own visions for APEC, CGTN's special series My Vision for APEC, under the Beyond the Horizon column, does something simple but valuable: It brings the macro debate down to the factory floor, the logistics hub, and service contracts.

Co-launched by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, My Vision for APEC is not just a collection of corporate testimonials, but a set of practical visions. While policymakers talk about regional cooperation, entrepreneurs must make it work in supply chains, in compliance systems, in training programs and in local communities. Their perspectives are not a substitute for policy. But they are an essential input into it.

"Connectivity creates opportunity," Carol Tomé, CEO at the United Parcel Service, Inc (UPS), notes. For Tomé, connectivity is not a supporting service. It is becoming a source of competitive advantage. For better connectivity, Wilfredo Ramos, UPS' Executive Vice President and Chief International, Healthcare and Supply Chain Solutions Officer, highlights the need to create a smarter, more connected regional trading network, one that brings together physical logistics, digital systems and border processes.

Salil Chari, Regional President for FedEx Asia Pacific, approaches the same theme from the world of logistics. Chari's vision for APEC is an Asia-Pacific region that is more connected, more digitally enabled and more inclusive than ever before, where businesses of every size can participate in global trade, where innovation and ideas move more freely across borders, and where economic opportunity reaches more communities across the region.

To better connect the Asia-Pacific, Brand Cheng, Chairman of Foxconn Industrial Internet, believes that artificial intelligence (AI) is the bridge. "In the AI era, competitiveness will increasingly depend on the ability to turn innovation into industrial capabilities at scale – and on how effectively economies work together to strengthen those capabilities," Cheng writes, arguing that competitiveness in the AI era will depend on industrial ecosystems rather than isolated breakthroughs.

Writing from five decades of manufacturing experience, Founder and Lifetime Honorary Chairman of Fuyao Group Cao Dewang, makes the case for openness as a practical discipline: Products must meet market demand and serve a clear purpose, quality must be refined with meticulous care in the pursuit of excellence, innovation must be practical and pursued with perseverance, and businesses should embrace globalization and adapt to the broader trend. Fuyao's presence in the US, as Cao notes, "was never about displacing or replacing local businesses, but about complementing the country's existing industries."

Jack Chan, Chairman of Ernst & Young (EY) China and Regional Managing Partner of EY Greater China, argues that trade in services is emerging as a new engine for Asia-Pacific trade and economic growth. The region's future competitiveness, as Chan believes, will depend increasingly on something less visible: the services, technologies, data, talent and professional capabilities that allow goods, capital and ideas to move efficiently across borders. Chan notes that trade in services should no longer be seen as an appendage to trading in goods; it is increasingly a growth engine in its own right.

Tsai Wang-ting, General Manager of Taiwan-based major food manufacturer Want Want Group, shifts the lens to culture and people. A rice cracker becomes a story about regional cooperation, brand-building and the ties that can form between young people across the Taiwan Strait and the wider Asia-Pacific. "An Asia-Pacific community gains a strong and lasting foundation when industries create shared value, brands connect people across cultures, and young people have opportunities to learn and grow together," Tsai writes in his article.

These entrepreneurs' sharing points to a common insight: APEC's value is not only in lowering barriers at the border. It is in lowering the cost of connection. That means predictable customs procedures, digital documentation, transparent regulation, resilient logistics, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and a policy environment in which small and medium-sized enterprises can participate.

It also means recognizing that services, manufacturing, digital trade and sustainability are no longer separate conversations. The future of Asia-Pacific competitiveness will be built where they intersect.

As Shenzhen welcomes APEC leaders, My Vision for APEC offers a clear message: The next chapter of Asia-Pacific growth will not be written by any single economy or company. It will be shaped by how effectively governments, businesses and communities work together to connect goods, data, talent and opportunity.

That is the standard against which APEC should be judged. Not just how many meetings are held, but how many barriers are reduced, how many connections are made and how many people can share in the prosperity that follows. The builders have spoken. The region should listen.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on X to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)