Multiple achievements were announced at the 11th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Ministerial Meeting held Tuesday in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, where ministers adopted new frameworks on innovation, digitalization and resilience to tackle regional food security challenges.
As one of the Asia-Pacific region’s top multilateral events in 2026, the gathering focused on agricultural and rural development, digital transformation and strategies to strengthen food security.
The meeting issued a joint statement noting that the Asia-Pacific, as a core hub of global food production and consumption, has contributed significantly to global food security and shown resilience in recent challenges. It called for innovation-led transformation and greater investment in agri-food systems, urging economies to deepen cooperation to improve quality, productivity, efficiency and resilience.
Additionally, a new framework titled "Principles on Strengthening the Region’s Food Systems through Innovation and Digitalization" was adopted at the meeting. The framework commits APEC economies to promote innovation and digital development, and to enhance decision-making, interconnection and response speed across the agri-food chain, including through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
"I think there's a lot of lessons that have been learned about how the economies in the APEC region have been adjusting to these changes and this includes examples of productivity. So this includes using biotechnology, for example, precision agriculture and so on. So this involves a lot of technology, but not just technology for the sake of technology. It's how do farmers actually benefit from the use of of all of this innovation. And part of that story also includes using block-chain, for example, for payments and ensuring payments that are received," said Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the APEC Secretariat.
"We hope that it can provide some insights and practical adaptation measures that we think have the potential to connect quite well to APEC capacity building efforts. And we do welcome APEC economies to work with us to see how we can translate these insights into some practical implementable solutions to the ground," said Goh HanYan, senior parliamentary secretary of Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore.
China will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen in south China in November this year, which will mark the country's third hosting of the event following Shanghai in 2001 and Beijing in 2014.
This year marks the APEC "China Year," with the theme of "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together." Approximately 300 APEC-related meetings and events will take place in multiple Chinese cities throughout the year.
APEC food security meeting focuses on innovation, achieves multiple achievements
