APEC Symposium and ISOM held in Shenzhen to kick off APEC "China Year"

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Symposium and Informal Senior Officials' Meeting (ISOM) was held from Thursday to Friday in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, kicking off the APEC "China Year".

The APEC Symposium and ISOM is the first official event organized by China as the host of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Shenzhen in November 2026.

Following its hosting duties in 2001 and 2014, this will be the third time China is serving as the APEC host.

The ISOM on Friday adopted China's proposed theme for 2026 APEC, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together," and its three priority cooperation areas, "openness, innovation and cooperation," while also confirming the annual meeting schedule.

Nearly 200 representatives from APEC member economies, the secretariat, the academia, the business community and observers attended the event.

"Building an Asia-Pacific community has been a shared goal since APEC's inception. Five years ago, APEC leaders issued the Putrajaya Vision 2040, reaffirming the commitment to an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu,.

"Facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges today, we should set out anew toward the goal of building an Asia-Pacific community, strive to explore new paths for development and prosperity, and jointly open a new era for Asia-Pacific development," said Ma.

Participating parties highly appreciated China's efforts in promoting the building of an Asia-Pacific community and expressed their willingness to actively support China in hosting the 2026 meetings and work together to ensure the complete success of the APEC "China Year".

At the meeting, China also introduced the logo for the APEC "China Year". The main body of the logo is formed by 21 intertwined feathers shaping a mythic giant bird soaring with wings spread.

It vividly illustrates the APEC spirit: "21 members are each unique yet interdependent and cooperative."

According to APEC's operational practice, four to five senior officials' meetings are generally organized each year. As a key mechanism coordinating the preparation for outcomes of the leaders' meeting, the senior officials' meeting bears the important responsibility of communication, coordination among economies, and advancing APEC's overall cooperation. At this informal senior officials' meeting, all parties further consolidated consensus, committing to joint efforts to contribute to achieving fruitful outcomes for the APEC "China Year".

China will continue supporting South Africa's engagement in Group of 20 (G20) activities, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Guo made the remarks in response to a media query about an announcement of the United States as the G20 presidency in 2026, in which it claimed that South Africa will not be invited to next year's G20 meetings.

"South Africa successfully hosted the G20 Johannesburg Summit last month, which was highly acclaimed by the international community. The G20 has long adhered to solidarity, cooperation, equality and consultation. As a founding member of the G20, South Africa has attended all the G20 summits and has long played an important role in the group. We support South Africa's continued participation in G20 cooperation and look forward to working with South Africa and other G20 members to contribute to upholding multilateralism, promoting world economic growth, and improving global economic governance," Guo said.