Senior APEC officials seek to reach common ground in trade ahead of leaders' summit

Gyeongju, Oct 28 Senior officials from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies are working to reach common ground on ways to boost trade and reduce barriers, among other initiatives, as they move to finalise a road map on Tuesday for key agenda items ahead of the leaders' summit.

The Concluding Senior Official's Meeting (CSOM) wrapped up two days of discussions on ways to advance APEC initiatives for growth and cooperation on its last day of the meeting, Tuesday, according to the organising committee.

Its recommendations will be delivered to the ministerial meeting, set for Wednesday, before being finalised at the leaders' summit, set for Friday and Saturday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

As this year's APEC chair, South Korea aims to build consensus with its fellow members on adopting a joint declaration covering trade, digital transformation and other shared issues, under the theme of "Building a Sustainable Tomorrow: Connect, Innovate, Prosper."

South Korea is also pushing to highlight artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation and responses to demographic changes as key initiatives for regional collaboration.

A key factor will be whether, and to what extent, member economies can agree on the wording related to free trade, given their differing views on the issue, amid the rising protectionist trend in the global economy.

Most of the past APEC leaders' declarations have highlighted support for free trade based on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) system and their commitment to multilateralism.

Between 2021 and 2024, all APEC summit declarations included the phrase: a rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO "at its core", which first appeared in the 2021 declaration, after U.S. President Donald Trump's first term ended.

A leader's declaration can only be adopted by consensus, with support from every single APEC member.

"The CSOM officials reaffirmed their collective commitment to concluding discussions on the wording of the final summit document to achieve meaningful results," the foreign ministry said in a release.

At the CSOM, the member economies are also deliberating on a new APEC road map to strengthen regulatory readiness and institutional capacity across finance, digital platforms and the creative economy.

Other issues include food and energy security, and social protection policies to ensure long-term well-being in the face of climate and geopolitical risks.

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