2024 APEC Leaders’ Week Readout

2024 APEC Leaders’ Week Readout
The APEC meetings in Peru concluded earlier this week. Below we identify key takeaways from the meetings, describe the regional context, highlight USG engagements in Lima, summarize the APEC outcomes and suggest some relevant reads on global trade patterns, AI, and the state of the Asia-Pacific region.
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Key APEC Takeaways
  • Artificial Intelligence gains prominence in APEC statements and 2025 priorities
  • Leaders endorse sustainable finance initiative
  • APEC commits to deeper stakeholder engagement
  • China will host APEC in 2026, followed by Vietnam in 2027
Regional Context
APEC 2024 Leaders Week unfolded in Lima last week against a backdrop of the outgoing Biden administration, which has recently lost a hard-fought election, and an ascendant China, with President Xi Jinping inaugurating the $3 billion Chancay megaport near Lima—a project poised to redirect global trade away from the United States (read more about shifting trade flows in a report highlighted below). While the U.S. government and private sector formed a strong presence in Peru – in both numbers and seniority – press coverage focused on President Biden’s diminished influence and the the summit’s tone was overshadowed by concerns about the impending policy shifts under President-elect Donald Trump. Parallels to APEC 2016, which was held in Lima immediately after Trump’s first electoral victory, did not go unnoticed.
Amid the rhetoric, Biden engaged in substantive discussions with Xi, reaching agreements on maintaining human control over nuclear weapons, held a trilateral meeting with President Yoon of Korea and newly elected Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba of Japan, and held a bilateral meeting President Boluarte of Peru. Links to White House readouts of these meetings appear below.
The U.S. private sector was similarly active in Lima with seven companies sponsoring the APEC CEO Summit and over 150 delegates in attendance. U.S. APEC Business Coalition engagement with Leaders and ministers from six APEC economies during the summit demonstrated U.S. business’ commitment to engagement in the region.
U.S. Government Engagement
President Biden led a delegation of senior U.S. Government officials to Lima, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
Trilateral with Korea and Japan
President Biden, South Korean President Yoon, and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba held a trilateral meeting focusing on the DPRK-Russia alliance, security cooperation, and missile warning systems. Emphasizing real-time data sharing and regional stability, the leaders demonstrated strong convergence on addressing shared threats and expanding trilateral cooperation across security, economic, and technological areas.
Bilateral with China
President Biden and President Xi held a candid, constructive meeting in Lima, addressing bilateral, regional, and global issues. Key topics included counternarcotics, AI safety, climate change, Taiwan, trade policies, and human rights. Both leaders emphasized managing competition responsibly, maintaining communication, and advancing cooperation while addressing areas of disagreement and mutual concern.
Blinken CEO Summit Speech
After opening by congratulating NCAPEC on its 30th anniversary, Secretary Blinken used his speech at the CEO Summit to emphasize U.S. leadership in fostering inclusive, sustainable growth across the Asia-Pacific through strengthened partnerships, regional integration, and transformative investments. Highlighting supply chain resilience, clean energy, technology development, and inclusivity, he also urged businesses to collaborate on shared goals, driving innovation, equality, and prosperity for a dynamic, interconnected future.
APEC Leaders and Ministers Declarations
In Lima, APEC Leaders and Minsters issued statements that reaffirmed Member commitments to regional cooperation and set the course for future initiatives. Below are summaries of key issues highlighted in this year’s statements.
Full texts are available here:
Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
  • Promoting Sustainable Growth: Leaders recognized AI as a key tool for innovation, transforming daily life, and driving sustainable economic growth across member economies.
  • Regional Dialogue on AI: Officials commended ongoing policy discussions on the benefits and challenges of AI. They encourage APEC economies to continue exchanging views and contributing to international AI-related initiatives.
  • Responsible Development: Emphasis was placed on the responsible development and application of AI to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth.
  • Enhancing Connectivity: Officials highlighted the importance of digital transformation in improving regional connectivity and reducing digital divides, including the gender digital divide.
  • Digital Ecosystem: Leaders committed to support a fair, open, and inclusive digital ecosystem. This includes fostering trust in digital transactions through privacy and data protection measures.
  • Supporting MSMEs and Economic Inclusion: Digital tools and transformation were identified as enablers for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to become more competitive and integrated into global value chains.
  • Facilitating Trade: Digitalization of trade procedures, such as paperless trade measures, was promoted to enhance efficiency and predictability.
  • Capacity Building: APEC emphasized the need to enhance digital literacy and provide training to upskill and reskill the workforce for the digital economy.
Health
  • Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Access: APEC is committed to building accessible, sustainable, and inclusive health systems to achieve UHC, with a focus on expanding access to quality services like sexual and reproductive health care.
  • Digital Health and Innovation: Emphasis on leveraging digital tools such as telehealth to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of health systems, while using data to adapt to future challenges and improve resilience.
  • Health Challenges and Preparedness: Strengthening capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to health emergencies, pandemics, and climate-related health risks, ensuring health systems are integrated with broader disaster response strategies.
  • Gender and Health Intersection: Focus on addressing gender-specific health issues, such as cervical cancer and mental well-being, while recognizing the compounded effects of climate change on health outcomes for vulnerable groups.
Women’s economic empowerment
  • Advancing Gender Equality and Reducing Barriers: APEC emphasized addressing structural barriers that limit women’s participation in the economy, including unequal access to education, employment, financial services, childcare, and technology. Efforts include advancing women’s participation in STEM and the creative economy while leveraging disaggregated data for inclusive policy development.
  • Intersection of Gender with Climate and Health: The documents highlight the impact of climate change and health challenges on women, advocating for gender-specific strategies in sustainability and health initiatives, including the Seattle Framework on Gender Equality and Climate Change.
  • Empowering Women Entrepreneurs and Traders: APEC focuses on integrating women-owned MSMEs into global value chains by promoting access to capital, markets, technology, and start-up ecosystems. Capacity-building and best practices are shared to reduce barriers for women entrepreneurs.
  • Concrete Initiatives for Structural Reform: Commitments include implementing the APEC Gender Equality Structural Reform Voluntary Principles (endorsed by 12 economies) and programs to enhance women’s access to trade and investment opportunities, promoting gender-responsive economic policies.
Sustainability
  • Advancing Clean Energy: APEC reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating clean, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transitions. This includes efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and promoting low-carbon technologies, guided by frameworks such as the “APEC Policy Guidance for Clean and Low-Carbon Hydrogen Policy Frameworks.”
  • Food Security and Waste Reduction: Officials adopted the “Trujillo Principles for Preventing and Reducing Food Loss and Waste in the Asia-Pacific Region,” emphasizing collaboration to halve food waste and reduce food losses along supply chains.
  • Bio-Circular-Green Economy: Commitments were reiterated to the Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy, integrating inclusivity and sustainability into trade and investment policies.
  • Environmental Goods and Services: APEC is advancing the trade of environmental goods and services and updated its environmental goods list to align with current international standards.
  • Combating Climate Change and Disasters: They recognized the profound impacts of climate change, emphasizing the integration of measures to address its effects, extreme weather, and natural disasters, while fostering biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management.
  • Sustainable Finance: Launching the “Finance Ministers Process Sustainable Finance Initiative,” APEC aims to support economies in developing tools and capacity-building resources for sustainable financial practices.
Supply Chains
  • Advancing Supply Chain Connectivity: APEC reaffirmed its commitment to advancing Phase Three of the Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan. This plan aims to enhance supply chain connectivity, minimize the adverse effects of disruptions, lower costs, and facilitate trade and investment, with the goal of establishing secure, resilient, sustainable, and inclusive supply chains.
  • Addressing Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: APEC has analyzed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, exploring the impacts of recent disruptions and outlining strategies for enhancing resilience. This includes helping businesses build and maintain open, secure, and resilient supply chains.
  • Promoting Digitalization and Innovation: APEC encourages the use of digital tools and innovative approaches to improve supply chain efficiency and resilience. This includes promoting the digitalization of trade procedures and enhancing digital literacy to support the transition to more formal and global economies.
  • Strengthening Regional Cooperation: APEC officials have highlighted the importance of regional cooperation in addressing supply chain challenges. This involves sharing best practices, developing capacity-building programs, and fostering collaboration among member economies to enhance supply chain resilience.
Relevant Reads
Global Trade in Flux
This report, from NCAPEC Member Citi, outlines the global reshaping of manufacturing supply chains driven by economic, geopolitical, technological, and policy dynamics, with a focus on reducing reliance on China. Latin America and Asia are positioned to gain market share, supported by rising China-Latam trade and ASEAN and India’s reform-driven strategies. Additionally, semiconductor supply chains are undergoing critical shifts due to national security-driven policies aimed at diversifying production and curbing China’s technological advancements. Read more here:
AI Pioneers in APEC
This brief examines how a wide range of economies are driving broad-based economic growth and advancing AI development across three key areas: infrastructure; skilling and deployment; and supportive policy and investment environments. By showcasing noteworthy examples and establishing benchmarks for AI opportunity leadership, this brief aims to provide policymakers at various stages of their AI journey with practical insights for harnessing and developing this transformative technology.
PECC State of the Region Report
The Pacific Economic Cooperation Council released its annual State of the Region Report during Leaders’ Week. In two chapters, it provides an overview of economic trends, noting that GDP growth is forecast at 3.4% in 2024, with inflation moderating to 2.3%, but risks like geopolitical tensions, climate change, and supply chain vulnerabilities loom large. A second chapter focuses on ageing populations, noting that demographic trends pose fiscal and economic challenges, with technological advancements offering partial mitigation. Read more here: 
By | 2024-11-25T22:50:47+00:00 November 25th, 2024|Categories: Blog Post|Comments Off on 2024 APEC Leaders’ Week Readout

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