Korea Participates in 2026 APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting

- Implementing activities to build upon deliverables of APEC 2025 as its host economy -

The 2026 APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting (ISOM) was held in Shenzhen, China, from Thursday, December 11, to Friday, December 12, 2025.

※ The ISOM event consisted of a symposium on the APEC 2026 theme and priorities on Thursday, December 11, and an ISOM plenary session on Friday, December 12.

※ The Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) serves as a high-level consultative mechanism on ways to enhance cooperation among APEC member economies. Each year, four formal SOMs and one informal SOM are held, and their outcomes are reported at the APEC Ministerial and Economic Leaders' Meetings.

At the meeting, China introduced the APEC 2026 theme and priorities, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together: Openness, Innovation, Cooperation," and outlined its plans to flesh out deliverables at the Senior Officials' Meetings and sectoral ministerial meetings throughout the year.

During the first session of the plenary, Ambassador Yoon Seongmee, in her capacity as APEC 2025 SOM Chair, gave a presentation on Korea's experience as the host economy of APEC 2025. She provided a detailed overview of the main results of the discussions and key deliverables of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju, including the Gyeongju Declaration, the APEC AI Initiative, and the APEC Collaborative Framework for Demographic Changes. She also conveyed the commitment of the Republic of Korea, as the outgoing host economy, to working closely with China to ensure the success of APEC 2026.

On December 11, the day before the plenary session, China hosted a symposium with representatives from APEC member economies and academics from the Asia-Pacific region to exchange diverse perspectives on the APEC 2026 theme and priorities. From the Republic of Korea, APEC Senior Official Lee Jiyoon participated as a panelist. She highlighted the strong alignment between Korea's 2025 priorities and deliverables and China's 2026 vision, and underscored that it is important to develop sustainable and effective models for APEC-wide capacity-building in order to address opportunities in the digital sector as well as emerging challenges.

On the margins of the meeting, APEC 2025 SOM Chair Yoon Seongmee held a bilateral meeting with China's APEC 2026 SOM Chair Chen Xu, during which they shared Korea's experience as the host economy of APEC 2025 and exchanged views on cooperation between the two host economies to ensure continuity in advancing the key APEC deliverables for this year.