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APEC ministers are advancing innovation across transportation systems to keep goods and people moving as trade grows more complex.
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APEC human resources development ministers are focusing on jobs, skills and social protection as artificial intelligence (AI) and aging populations reshape labor markets across the Asia-Pacific.
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APEC economies have launched a new platform to coordinate financing for dengue prevention, in Dalian on the margins of the Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, as cases across the Asia-Pacific outpace the investment needed to prevent and control them.
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APEC energy ministers are pushing to strengthen energy security across the Asia-Pacific as rising electricity demand puts greater pressure on power systems, costs and supply chain.
Electricity consumption across APEC could nearly double by 2060, driven by growing electrification, data centres and changing transport needs. Meeting in Beijing for the 16th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting, ministers focused on how the region can meet that demand while strengthening energy systems, widening access and limiting cost pressures on households and businesses.
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Persistent supply chain disruptions are increasing uncertainty for businesses across the Asia-Pacific, prompting APEC business leaders to upgrade a tool that helps small businesses identify vulnerabilities and manage risks.
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On Friday in Guangzhou, Li Lecheng, Chair of the 32nd APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, shared with ministers a statement that reflects a direction for strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the Asia-Pacific region.
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APEC economies and business are advancing a joint initiative to make electronic trade documents work across borders, tackling legal, technical and capacity barriers that continue to keep much of global trade reliant on paper.
Around four billion paper documents still circulate through global trade each year, with less than one percent fully digitalized. Even where trade documents have gone electronic, different legal frameworks, technical standards and digital systems can prevent them from being recognized or exchanged across borders.
This challenge was discussed at a dialogue held in Dalian last week by the APEC Centre of Excellence for Paperless Trade (ACCEPT). Endorsed last year, ACCEPT, is a collaborative initiative between APEC economies and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to help close these gaps and accelerate the practical adoption of paperless trade.
“We want to reduce the cost and friction of moving goods across borders, yet for many businesses, trade unfortunately remains far more paper based,” said Kok Ping Soon, ABAC Singapore member and Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).
“Legal frameworks differ across jurisdictions and systems do not always connect seamlessly with one another,” Kok added. “As a result, the result is familiar to many of us: delays, duplicated processes, higher compliance costs and uncertainty.”
SBF, through its Centre for the Future of Trade and Investment, hosts the ACCEPT Secretariat and provides administrative, logistical and program support for its work. Its initial work focuses on four documents at the heart of many trade transactions, such as electronic bills of lading, certificates of origin, invoices and customs bonds.
The scale of the opportunity is significant. Ocean carriers issue around 45 million bills of lading each year, with about 95 percent still not electronic, while hundreds of billions of business-to-business invoices continue to be processed in non-electronic form globally. Research presented at the dialogue shows that the bigger challenge increasingly emerges when documents have to move between economies.
“Paperless trade will only deliver its full benefits when electronic documents can move across borders as reliably as the goods they support,” said Julio Chan, Chair of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment.
“ACCEPT gives APEC economies and businesses a practical way to address the gaps that still stand in the way, from legal recognition and common standards to interoperability, and ultimately make cross-border trade easier, faster and more efficient.”
A key part of ACCEPT’s work is to move from policy into practice through pilot programs that test electronic trade documents in real-world transactions and identify where legal, technical and operational barriers remain. Progress on paperless trade will require the involvement of a vast number of stakeholders across the supply chain and ACCEPT brings governments and businesses together in this regard.
The dialogue brought together over 40 participants from 14 APEC economies, businesses and international organizations to discuss the practical next steps needed to advance cross-border paperless trade.
In her closing remarks at the dialogue, Denise Pereira, Director of the International Trade Division at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, said pilot programs can help test what works in actual cross-border transactions and identify where processes break down.
“The vision should be for successful pilots to provide a pathway towards regular commercial use,” Pereira said. “Businesses and governments will need to build on initial adoption to embed electronic trade documents into day-to-day trade processes and allow the scaling of solutions for mass adoption by businesses.”
For businesses, particularly smaller firms with fewer resources to navigate different systems and requirements, making electronic trade documents work across borders could mean less paperwork, lower compliance costs and fewer delays moving goods.
ACCEPT welcomes participation from both public and private stakeholders for a meaningful collective endeavour and valuable objectives. ACCEPT’s progress will be reported annually to APEC economies and ABAC.
Scientist behind an artificial intelligence (AI) software that turns raw and scrambled DNA data into fast and accurate medical genetic diagnoses has won this year’s APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE).
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Non-tariff measures (NTMs) affect around 80 percent of trade in the APEC region, making how they are designed critical to how trade flows.
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Ministers and senior representatives at the Data for Growth High-Level Roundtable in Chengdu on Saturday highlighted the growing importance of data as a driver of innovation, productivity and growth, calling for deeper collaboration to unlock its potential across the Asia-Pacific.
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Ministers, senior officials and representatives from across the Asia-Pacific gathered at the APEC Data for Growth High-Level Roundtable to discuss how greater cooperation on data can support innovation, productivity and economic growth.
The roundtable was held as part of APEC Digital Weeks 2026.
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Ministers, senior officials, business leaders, researchers and representatives from
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APEC ministers responsible for telecommunications/information and communications technologies and digital policy issued a joint statement following the conclusion of their meeting in Chengdu on Thursday.
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Online scams are no longer a side effect of digital growth. With more than half of adults worldwide reporting scam encounters and losses exceeding USD1 trillion a year, fraud has become a systemic economic risk.
A phone number. A spoofed sender ID. A perfectly “legitimate” bank transfer authorized by the victim themselves. By the time anyone realizes it was a scam, the money has usually moved across borders and out of reach.
This is the new geometry of fraud. As APEC ministers, officials and industry leaders gather in Chengdu for the APEC Digital Weeks, including the Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting, the challenge has become increasingly difficult to ignore.
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The APEC Photo Contest is back, inviting photographers from across the Asia-Pacific to capture people, places and moments that reflect this year’s theme, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together."
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Sun Yeli, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China and Chair of the APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting, shared with ministers a statement that reflects the importance of leveraging digital innovation to empower tourism development.
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Digital innovation, seamless travel and stronger regional cooperation took center stage as APEC tourism ministers met in Macao, China to chart the next phase of tourism growth across the Asia-Pacific.
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Research examining fertility costs, preventive healthcare access and workplace inequalities has received top recognition under the 2026 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize, highlighting the growing importance of health policy in supporting women’s economic participation across the Asia-Pacific.
Professor Zhu Zhaofang, Head of the Strategic Planning Division at the National Center for Maternal and Child Health under China’s National Health Commission, and her team received the top prize for research examining the growing financial pressures associated with childbearing and maternal healthcare.
Drawing on data from China, the study explores how maternity insurance systems can better support women and families by reducing out-of-pocket healthcare costs and strengthening maternity protection policies amid broader demographic and workforce challenges.
“Childbearing is both a personal and social choice. Women's decision to have children should never be constrained by economic pressures or personal development and career aspirations,” said Professor Zhu.
“This research demonstrates that with the right policy design, comprehensive maternity security is both achievable and fiscally sustainable. I hope these findings contribute to building economies where women are supported, as workers, as caregivers and as the foundation of healthy, thriving societies.”
The prize, presented annually by the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy, recognizes outstanding research that advances women’s economic participation by improving health outcomes.
Two additional studies were recognized as runners-up.
Dr Woo Yin Ling and her team from the University of Malaya and the ROSE Foundation in Malaysia were recognized for research exploring how antenatal care visits could help expand access to cervical cancer screening and preventive healthcare services.
Dr Sunjin Pak and colleagues from California State University Bakersfield in the United States were also recognized for research examining how long working hours and unpaid caregiving responsibilities can affect health outcomes and contribute to gender wage disparities.
“The experience of the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize highlights the important role of research in advancing women's health and economic participation across APEC economies,” Zhang Jianmin, Interim Chair of the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy.
“Congratulations to this year's prize recipients, and we look forward to more research outputs that support knowledge sharing and more inclusive growth across the region because when we invest in women's health, we invest in the future of our economies,” Zhang added.
The APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize is sponsored by Merck and supports APEC’s ongoing efforts to promote inclusive growth through public-private partnerships.
“Merck is honored to support the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize for the eighth consecutive year. The research recognized in 2026 highlights important evidence on women’s health, economic participation and access to care across the APEC region,” said Andre Musto, Managing Director and General Manager of Merck Healthcare China.
“We are pleased to continue supporting this platform, which helps elevate research, encourage dialogue, and contribute to shared learning among APEC economies.”
The Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) initiative is grounded in the APEC HWHE Policy Toolkit, which highlights five areas for action: workplace health and safety; health awareness and access; sexual and reproductive health; gender-based violence; and work-life balance. The initiative supports policymakers, industry and civil society to advance women’s health as a foundation for broader economic empowerment.
For further information or media inquiries, please contact:
media@apec.org
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This news release can also be viewed on the APEC website: https://www.apec.org/press/
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Chinese Taipei has contributed USD1.5 million to establish APEC's first dedicated healthcare sub-fund, targeting the region's rapidly aging populations and widening gaps in access to care.
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Japan has contributed JPY90.1 million to support regional cooperation on clean, resilient and efficient energy solutions as rising electricity demand from digitalization and artificial intelligence places new pressure on energy systems across the Asia-Pacific.
