China hopes APEC leaders will adopt Shenzhen Declaration: foreign ministry

China hopes to work with all parties to secure the adoption of the Shenzhen Declaration at next week's APEC leaders' meeting, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as it outlined its expectations for the gathering.

The 2026 informal meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders will be held in Shenzhen, in China's Guangdong province, next Wednesday and Thursday (18–19 November). China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday (13 November) that Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the meeting and deliver an address.

Briefing reporters on the meeting at a regular press conference on Friday, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was hosting APEC for the first time in 12 years. She said APEC's “China Year” had yielded substantial results.

She said China and fellow APEC member economies had held more than 300 meetings and events centred on the theme “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” and the three priorities of openness, innovation and cooperation. These included a series of senior officials' meetings and related meetings, 10 sectoral ministerial meetings covering women, trade, tourism, forestry, food security, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy, human resources, transport and finance, as well as high-level Digital Week events. With cumulative attendance exceeding 10,000, the events had produced consensus on a range of areas of cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the upcoming informal meeting of APEC leaders in Shenzhen.

On China's expectations for the meeting, Mao said the 33rd informal meeting of APEC leaders would open in Shenzhen the following week. “We look forward to all parties further building consensus, adopting the Shenzhen Declaration and achieving more practical results in key areas such as trade, connectivity, the digital economy and artificial intelligence, providing strong impetus for prosperity and growth in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.”

Besides chairing the informal meeting of APEC leaders, Xi will attend the opening ceremony of the APEC CEO Summit, to be held in Shenzhen next Tuesday and Wednesday (17–18 November), and deliver a keynote address. During the meetings, Xi will also host a welcome banquet for the leaders or representatives of participating economies and hold bilateral meetings with foreign leaders.