APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting Concludes in Suzhou; Reaffirms FTAAP Promotion

Central News Agency, Shanghai, May 23. The APEC trade ministers' meeting concluded in Suzhou today, issuing a joint statement that reaffirmed the agenda to promote the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and addressed issues such as maintaining supply chain resilience, WTO reform, and the development of the digital economy. According to the APEC official website, the trade ministers' meeting was held in Suzhou, China, from the 22nd to the 23rd, chaired by Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. Representatives from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as well as the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) attended the meeting. After the meeting, the "2026 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Joint Statement (Suzhou Statement)" was released, containing 24 articles divided into two parts: "Promoting Regional and Global Trade" and "Fostering New Engines for Innovative and Dynamic Trade and Investment Cooperation." The statement reaffirmed the commitment to promote economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region based on market orientation, including advancing the FTAAP agenda. APEC can play a role in enhancing the capacity of economies to participate in high-standard, comprehensive cooperation programs. Dialogue will be held on issues such as state-owned enterprises, trade and labor, trade and environment, trade digitalization, digital trade, trade facilitation, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and competition policy. The statement also reaffirmed the commitment to maintain the resilience of supply chains, especially for essential goods such as energy products and key downstream derivatives; strengthen food security within the APEC region and enhance the resilience of agri-food systems; encourage members to further promote connectivity cooperation; and commit to strengthening the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The statement acknowledged that the deadlock at the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) highlighted the challenges facing the WTO and that substantive reform is needed. It welcomed the acceptance of the "Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies" by 17 APEC economies and called on the remaining member economies to complete their domestic procedures. It also supported the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions to maintain the openness and predictability of digital markets. Furthermore, the statement reaffirmed the commitment to develop the digital economy, promote regional paperless trade, leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence in trade, and expand trade in AI-related goods and services. It welcomed APEC's work on the digitalization of customs procedures and the modernization of customs processes, and emphasized the importance of addressing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and illegal logging and associated trade (ILAT), strengthening legal trade through information sharing and best practices.