Guangzhou to host first APEC senior officials' meeting

The first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Senior Officials' Meeting and related events will be held in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, between Feb 1 and 10, a senior city official said on Thursday.

It will be the first official event of the APEC "China Year", Deng Changxiong, deputy director of Guangzhou Office of Foreign Affairs, said.

The meeting will focus on the 2026 APEC theme — "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together" and the three priority areas of Openness, Innovation and Cooperation, and fully launch cooperation across all sectors and mechanisms, conduct in-depth discussions on specific cooperation, and lay groundwork for the economic leaders' meeting, which will take place in Shenzhen in November.

According to Deng, it is estimated about 1,000 representatives from APEC member economies, the APEC Secretariat and the APEC Business Advisory Council are expected to attend, with issues covering trade and investment, economic and technical cooperation, scientific and technological innovation, digital economy, cross-border e-commerce, market access, marine and fisheries, intellectual property, food security, health, connectivity, and digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.

"As the host city of this senior officials' meeting and related events, Guangzhou is firmly fulfilling its political and territorial responsibilities and pressing ahead with all preparatory work at full steam in accordance with the meeting principles of being concise, efficient and economical," Deng said.

And relevant departments will provide sound services to guarantee the events go smoothly, he added.

Guan Jinghuan contributed to this story.