China takes over as host of 2026 APEC CEO Summit

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) officially took over as the host of next year's APEC CEO Summit on Friday.

Ren Hongbin, chairman of the CCPIT, led a delegation of more than 100 Chinese business leaders to attend the 2025 APEC CEO Summit held in Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea (ROK), from Wednesday to Friday.

At the closing ceremony of the 2025 APEC CEO Summit, Ren received the summit's chairmanship from Chey Tae-won, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), officially taking over as the host of the APEC CEO Summit 2026 on behalf of the CCPIT.

The CEO summit is a key part of the annual gathering of leaders and senior officials from the APEC member economies.

Themed "Bridge, Business, Beyond", this year's CEO summit brought together more than 1,000 representatives from various APEC economies to discuss regional economic integration, sustainability, artificial intelligence, digital innovation, global finance, biomedicine and other topics.

South China's tech hub of Shenzhen City will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Saturday at the APEC chairmanship handover session of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

It will be the third time for China to host an APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

Russian forces attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure overnight on Saturday, for the second time in less than a week, Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The strikes targeted the Burshtyn and Dobrotvir thermal power plants in western Ukraine, as well as substations and overhead transmission lines, the minister said.

He further said personnel unloaded units at nuclear power plants as a precautionary measure.

Ukraine's state-run energy company Ukrenergo has requested emergency assistance from Poland in the wake of the attack, Shmyhal added, while the company said it has imposed emergency power outages across most of the country.

The previous attack on Ukraine's energy facilities was carried out on Tuesday.