China to host 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Nov

China announced on Friday that the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will take place on Nov 18-19 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The schedule was unveiled at the APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting, the first official event hosted by China since assuming the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation chairmanship last month.

China plans to host about 300 events throughout next year, with venues spanning multiple cities across the country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news briefing on Friday.

In addition to the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the APEC CEO Summit, as well as joint meetings of foreign and trade ministers will also be held. Three rounds of Senior Officials' Meetings will be held in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Dalian in February, May and August, respectively, Guo said.

Starting in May, around 10 ministerial or high-level meetings will be convened in various cities, covering key areas such as trade, the digital economy, transportation, tourism, human resources, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy, food security, finance, and women's economic empowerment, he added.

China, at the APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting, also proposed "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together" as the theme for the 2026 APEC, which Guo said received widespread praise and was formally adopted by consensus.

The three priority areas, namely openness, innovation, and cooperation, proposed by China, strongly align with the needs and expectations of all APEC member economies, he added.