Openness, innovation, and cooperation will be the three priorities of China’s APEC chairmanship in 2026, with the main theme set as “Building an Asia-Pacific Community and Promoting Shared Prosperity”. This was announced on Friday at an informal meeting of senior APEC officials (ISOM).

The APEC Symposium and ISOM, held in Shenzhen (Guangdong Province, South China) from Thursday to Friday, are the first events organized by China as the host of the upcoming 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which will take place in Shenzhen in November 2026. This event marks the launch of China’s APEC host year.

APEC is a platform for cooperation among the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, established in 1989 at the initiative of Australia and bringing together 21 economies, 40% of the Earth’s population with a 50% share of global GDP. It stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It has no charter and no status of an international organization, but it is one of the leading forums for promoting trade interaction in the region.

Unlike other informal groupings such as the G7 and G20, APEC has a permanent secretariat based in Singapore. The chairmanship rotates annually. In 2024, Peru headed APEC for the third time in the forum’s history, and in 2025 the chairmanship passed to South Korea. In 2023, the forum’s events were hosted by the United States.