APEC China Year opens with first business event in Indonesia

China

APEC China Year opens with first business event in Indonesia

2026-02-09 13:53 Last Updated At：02-10 00:47

The first major business community event of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) "China Year" was held from February 7 to 9 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the Chinese business delegation chaired the first meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for 2026, bringing together more than 200 representatives and experts from all 21 APEC economies.

During the meeting, business leaders from across the Asia-Pacific exchanged views on four key areas: regional economic integration, sustainable development, digital innovation, and connectivity.

Participants put forward a number of constructive proposals, agreed on "openness, connectivity and coordination" as the theme for the year, and held dialogs with APEC senior officials to further strengthen communication and coordination between the business community and government bodies.

Chinese representatives called on stronger support for building the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific and urged deeper cooperation and experience sharing in frontier areas such as artificial intelligence plus.

They also put forward specific initiatives on green energy transition, sustainable agricultural development, cross-border payment facilitation, and people-to-people exchanges.

These proposals were seen as actively guiding regional cooperation and received broad support from participants.

According to the schedule, the remaining three APEC Business Advisory Council meetings this year will be held in Mexico City in Mexico, Bangkok in Thailand, and Shenzhen of China.

The final outcomes will be submitted to the APEC Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting, which is set to take place in China in November.

Global food prices rise for 2nd consecutive month in March amid Middle East conflict: FAO

Global food commodity prices climbed for a second consecutive month in March, driven mainly by higher energy costs linked to escalating conflict in the Middle East, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in report released on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally traded food commodities, averaged 128.5 points in March, up 2.4 percent from February and 1.0 percent above its level a year ago.

According to the report, the FAO Vegetable Oil Index and Sugar Price Index showed the largest increases, up 5.1 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

The FAO Cereal Price Index increased by 1.5 percent from the previous month, driven primarily by higher world wheat prices, which rose 4.3 percent.

The FAO Meat Price Index rose by 1.0 percent from the previous month, and the FAO All-Rice Price Index declined by 3.0 percent in March, according to the report.

FAO stated that rising energy and fertilizer prices have been driving up agricultural input costs.

If the conflict stretches beyond 40 days, farmers will have to choose to farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops, according to FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero.

These choices will hit future yields and shape food supply and commodity prices for the rest of this year and beyond, Torero said.