Chinese President Xi Jinping presented a five-point proposal aimed at promoting universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization and building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, during the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on Friday. In his speech, Xi underscored the importance of safeguarding the multilateral trading system, creating an open economic environment, and advancing the digital and green transformation of trade.
Delivering a keynote address titled “Building an Inclusive and Open Asia-Pacific Economy for All” at the meeting’s first session, Xi outlined his vision for deeper regional cooperation.
In his first point, Xi called on APEC members to make concerted efforts to protect the multilateral trading system. He urged members to uphold genuine multilateralism, better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, enhance the authority and effectiveness of the World Trade Organization-centered multilateral trading framework, and update international economic and trade rules to reflect global transformations.
As his second proposal, Xi emphasized the need to foster an open economic environment in the region. He encouraged APEC members to continue promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepen fiscal and financial cooperation, steadily advance regional economic integration, and enhance synergy and collaboration—thus accelerating the development of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).
In his third proposal, Xi called for joint efforts to maintain the stability and smooth functioning of industrial and supply chains. He emphasized that APEC members should strengthen, rather than sever, their ties; join hands instead of drifting apart; expand shared interests; support open supply chain development; and strive for tangible progress in physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity.
Xi’s fourth proposal focused on advancing the digital and green transformation of trade. He urged members to harness digital technologies as a catalyst for cross-border trade, remove “green barriers,” and expand cooperation in green industries, clean energy, and sustainable mining.
In his fifth proposal, Xi called on APEC members to jointly promote universally beneficial and inclusive development in the Asia-Pacific region. He emphasized the need to uphold a people-centered development philosophy, address imbalances in development, and advance a more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable form of economic globalization that benefits all people in the region.
Xi recalled that during the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan were adopted. He noted that China would seize this opportunity to comprehensively deepen reforms, expand high-standard opening-up, and create new opportunities for both the Asia-Pacific and the world through the achievements of Chinese modernization.