The Chinese Foreign Minister outlined China's key objectives as part of its APEC presidency.

Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) should strive to develop a clearly focused and meaningful outcome document at this year's APEC Leaders' Meeting. This was stated by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday, speaking at the opening of the first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, southern China.

Wang Yi stated that China has set this year's theme as "Building an Asia-Pacific Community and Promoting Shared Prosperity," focusing on the priorities of openness, innovation, and cooperation when advancing the year's agenda. According to the Chinese minister, APEC members should actively expand avenues for the creation of a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) and contribute to the development of a plan to enhance connectivity.

The Chinese Foreign Minister emphasized that APEC members need to use innovation to advance digital, intelligent, and green transformation, creating new growth opportunities for APEC economies. He also emphasized the need to take into account the diversity of APEC economies and deepen practical cooperation in various areas of development-related governance.

As the Chinese Foreign Minister noted, China is assuming the APEC Presidency for the third time and the first time in 12 years. He recalled the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called for unwavering adherence to APEC's original commitment to stimulating economic growth and improving public welfare, continuously sharing opportunities and achieving win-win results through open development, advancing inclusive economic globalization that benefits everyone, and building an Asia-Pacific community. To achieve this, Wang Yi stated, it is necessary to jointly build a prosperous and stable, open and interconnected, inclusive and beneficial for all, united and unified Asia-Pacific region.

The Chinese Foreign Minister noted that the "Year of China" in APEC coincides with the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) in China, and assured that the country will provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the entire world through new achievements of Chinese-style modernization.

The first APEC Senior Officials' Meeting in 2026 aims to ensure a productive outcome for the informal APEC Leaders' Meeting in November.