Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of 11 other Asia-Pacific economies will attend the APEC CEO Summit in Shenzhen on Tuesday and Wednesday, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) announced at a press conference on Sunday, November 15.
Source: Hong Kong Business Wire / CCPIT announcement
CCPIT vice chairperson Li Qingshuang said Xi will attend the CEO Summit and deliver speeches or remarks, or take part in panel discussions. The other leaders on hand will be those of Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, along with Hong Kong, China.
Representatives of 115 Fortune Global 500 companies will also attend the CEO Summit, which is being held at the Qianhai International Convention Center on November 17 and 18, ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, November 18 and 19. More than 2,000 participants from government, business and media are expected across the summit events, representing all 21 APEC economies.
The leaders' meeting that follows
China has said Xi will chair the leaders' meeting and deliver remarks, Reuters reported in its explainer on the summit. US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are among those expected at the leaders' gathering, along with the leaders of Canada, Australia, Mexico and Indonesia and those of Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam, among other Asia-Pacific nations.
Source: Reuters
Taiwan has designated Stan Shih, the founder of Acer, as its envoy. Tokyo had not formally said in the Reuters explainer whether Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would attend.
What China wants from the week
China confirmed on Friday that the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will be held in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19, and its foreign ministry said the host will seek agreement on a Shenzhen Leaders' Declaration and practical outcomes in trade, connectivity, the digital economy and artificial intelligence. A declaration is an objective, not an adopted result: APEC works by consensus and its commitments are generally non-binding.
The Shenzhen week is also the setting for the expected first trilateral meeting of Trump, Xi and Putin, which US officials have said will focus on nuclear arms reduction and the conflict involving Iran, with the war in Ukraine handled through separate channels.
The CEO Summit runs November 17–18 at the Qianhai International Convention Center, and the leaders' meeting follows on November 18–19, chaired by Xi Jinping. Whether the week produces a Shenzhen Declaration will be decided by consensus among all 21 economies.
For Asia-Pacific businesses, the CEO Summit is the week's commercial centre of gravity: 115 of the world's biggest companies in one room with 12 heads of government, at a moment when trade, technology rules and regional security are all being renegotiated at once.