Beijing/Gyeongju: China will host the next year’s APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Saturday.
The 2026 summit of leaders of 21 Asian and Pacific Rim nations will be held at Shenzhen, he said while speaking at the concluding session of this year’s meeting being held at Gyeongju in South Korea.
Next year’s summit will be China’s third Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting as a host.
The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Xi dominated the news around this year’s APEC summit. Though Trump left for the US immediately after the meeting without attending the summit, Xi stayed back.
The two leaders reached an understanding to end the tariff war between the top two economies of the world.
After his talks with Xi Thursday, Trump told the media that he will cut the “fentanyl tariff” from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, which will bring the overall tariff on China from 57 per cent to 47 per cent.
Under the deal, China has agreed to lift the export controls on the much-needed rare-earth metals required for manufacturing mobile phones to fighter jets and imports of US Soybeans, while the US agreed to lift restrictions on the export of semiconductor chips.
Trump said he will visit China in April next year, and Xi will visit the US after that. He may also take part in the Shenzhen summit of the APEC.
Speaking at the second session of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Saturday, Xi said economies in the Asia-Pacific region should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, seize new opportunities, address new challenges, and jointly create a sustainable and prosperous future.
Asia-Pacific economies should deepen open-source technological cooperation and create a competitive open innovation ecosystem, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying.
He said that the economies should bear humanity’s well-being in mind, promote healthy and orderly development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a beneficial, safe and equitable direction. The economies should resolutely fulfill common but differentiated responsibilities, and urge developed economies to continue to provide necessary support to developing economies in such areas as funding, technology and capacity building, he added.
On the next summit at Shenzhen, Xi said, located along the Pacific coast, the Chinese city has developed from a small, backward fishing village into a modern international metropolis over the past few decades.
He hailed the city’s rise as a miracle in the history of world development created by the Chinese people and also an important window to China’s unswerving pursuit of a mutually beneficial and win-win opening-up strategy.
Xi said he looks forward to all parties gathering in Shenzhen next year to jointly discuss the development plans for the Asia-Pacific region and create a bright future for it.
Leaders of the participating economies actively supported China in taking over as the host of the APEC meeting next year, the Xinhua report said.
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