With the participation of more than 1,400 delegates from the 21 member economies, the First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and related events concluded today in Lima. The meetings took place from February 24 to March 8 at Lima’s Convention Center – LCC.

A total of 73 APEC technical meetings were held, organized in 27 working groups which addressed important topics Peru raised as priorities for this edition of APEC 2024, ranging from trade liberalization, facilitation, and inclusion through regulatory quality to enhance productivity and formality.

Ambassador Carlos Vásquez, Chair of the Senior Officials Meetings, highlighted the success of the event thanks to the support Peru received to organize APEC 2024 and for “the vision shared by the member economies to achieve quality growth in the region.”

“Peru managed to include several topics on the agenda of this event, such as preparing a roadmap to foster the transition of informal economic actors towards the formal economy,” commented  diplomat Renato Reyes, Peru’s senior official before APEC (SOM Peru).

Dr. Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat also commented on the formalization of the economy.

“Informality occurs around the world, and as part of our efforts in advancing inclusive growth, Peru, for the first time, has brought this topic to the table,” said Dr Rebecca Sta Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.

 “Earlier this week, we heard from experts and member economies about their views on how APEC can advance formalization, including by promoting an innovative mix of policies and strategies to develop skills, improving trust in institutions, fostering enabling business environments, increasing access to capital, markets, and technology as well as boosting social protection,” Dr Sta Maria added.

During this First Meeting of Senior Officials of APEC Peru 2024, topics related to illegal logging, energy policies, dignified labor, intellectual property, oceans and fisheries’ stewardship, standards and compliance, and the development and implementation of low-carbon hydrogen were also discussed.

The Second APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM2) and  related events and the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) will take place in Arequipa, from May 4 to 18, 2024.

Significantly, Peru will host APEC again this year for the third time, after having hosted the 2008 and 2016 meetings.

APEC, created in November 1989, is an economic forum made up of 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific, the world’s most dynamic region.

APEC seeks to promote greater prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region through the implementation of the so-called “APEC Putrajaya Vision 2020-2040” which identifies 3 pillars: Trade and Investment; Innovation and Digitalization; Strong, Balanced, Safe, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. APEC economies include Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; South Korea; Malaysia;