The 2026 APEC Ministerial Meeting on Forestry concluded Tuesday in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, with the adoption of a joint statement calling for stronger enforcement against illegal forest trade and greater biodiversity protection.
The two-day event brought together senior representatives, experts, and scholars from 21 APEC economies and seven international organizations for dialogues on advancing the Global Forest Goals and integrating scientific innovation with the green industry.
Held under the theme "Building a Green Asia‑Pacific, Sharing Ecological Well‑being," the meeting is one of the key events of APEC 2026.
"This year's theme is really about humanity and nature. So if we talk about forest resilience, this is not just about the resilience of human beings, but the resilience of nature, and we depend on nature. My organization is working on community forestry, but we're also working on mangrove restoration and rehabilitation around the region. So, I particularly am interested in collaboration with China's APFNet and also International Mangrove Center," said David Ganz, Executive Director of the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific.
As a key outcome, the joint statement urges APEC economies to promote biodiversity conservation and step up enforcement against illegal forest trade. It also calls for forest governance and sustainable management to be integrated into development plans and policy frameworks, while strengthening regional cooperation on urban forestry and water resource management.
Korea Forest Service Commissioner Park Eun‑sik emphasized the enduring forestry cooperation between China and the Republic of Korea and said the meeting’s theme carries strong regional resonance.
"The Republic of Korea and China have long maintained sound cooperation in the forestry sector. China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program has delivered remarkable results, and its successful experience in combating desertification is well worth sharing. As climate change intensifies, this meeting's theme is both timely and regionally relevant. I am confident that it will inspire all economies to work together to strengthen forest ecological resilience, protect forest resources from degradation, and jointly defend against natural disasters," he said.
APEC forestry meeting issues joint call on biodiversity, illegal trade
The ongoing China-ASEAN Expo serves as a bridge for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost trade flows, helping both sides reap shared development dividends.
Scheduled to run from Sept 17 to 21 in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the event draws more than 3,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.
This year, Timor-Leste is participating for the first time as a full ASEAN member and a co-host of the expo, with participants noting results have exceeded expectations, bolstered by China's vast market.
"I brought 60 packages of 250-gram coffee, which would be sold out in one day. Now I'm thinking that China market is open for everybody and it's very huge," said an exhibitor from Timor-Leste.
Participants also hailed the construction of China's Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday.
The 134.2-km-long canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.
The canal becomes a cost-competitive river-sea intermodal shortcut connecting ASEAN producers with the vast consumer market in southwest China, said the participants.
"In the past, shipments into the southwest China usually went by sea to Guangzhou and then overlands. Too many handover made it hard to keep products fresh. Losses were high and transit time was unreliable. Now that the canal is open, we can enter [the] Guangxi [Zhuang Autonomous Region] directly from the Beibu Gulf and move on to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan restaurants, faster onto the supermarket shelves and tables in the southeast [part of China]," said an exhibitor from Vietnam.
With the formal signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Oct 2025, bilateral cooperation has expanded beyond economic and trade areas to emerging fields such as the digital economy and the green economy.
"I am looking for an investor to develop agriculture and integrated tourism with us in Malaysia," said an exhibitor from Malaysia.
Economic ties between China and ASEAN have continued to deepen. Bilateral trade topped 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, totaling 1.05 trillion dollars, up 7.4 percent year on year. In the first seven months of 2026, trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six successive years.
China-ASEAN Expo boosts bilateral cooperation, delivers shared dividends
