Andina

How many times has APEC been held in Peru?

Photo: ANDINA/Daniel Bracamonte

08:30 | Lima, Oct. 18.

The main economies of the Asia-Pacific region will meet in Peru in 2024 as our country assumed the Pro-Tempore Presidency of APEC in November 2023.

Find out how many times our country has hosted the multilateral forum.

Since joining in 1998, Peru has hosted APEC on two other occasions, in 2008 and 2016, the Peruvian Foreign Affairs Ministry's official APEC Peru 2024 website noted.


APEC 2008

Peru has been an APEC member since 1998

In 2008 —10 years after this important milestone— Peru became the venue for the forum for the first time, during the Government of then-President Alan Garcia. "A new Commitment to the Development of the Asia-Pacific" was the motto on that occasion.

The Foreign Trade and Tourism Ministry's (Mincetur) Trade Agreement website highlights that being the host economy in 2008 set an important precedent regarding Peru's ability to organize large-scale international events.

"For more than a year, Peru was a source of positive international news, culminating in November 2008 with the extensive global coverage of the summit held in Lima," it recalled. 

Among the achievements, it is worth highlighting that Peru has managed to advance in its objective of becoming a hub by seeking bilateral agreements with APEC economies.

Thanks to this effort, the FTAs with Canada, the People's Republic of China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore have been consolidated.


APEC 2016

Under the motto "Quality Growth and Human Development," Peru hosted APEC for the second time, during the Government of then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

At that time, the agenda led by Peru prioritized advancing towards the realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), as well as the strengthening and internationalization of SMEs, food security, among others.

As a result, the Lima Declaration on FTAAP was adopted, which fosters capacity-building activities for negotiations and identifies the areas with the greatest challenges for consolidating this free trade area.

Regarding small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the development of a compendium of methodologies and public policies for their internationalization was approved.

Similarly, it was agreed to work to foster the participation of service SMEs in global value chains.


APEC 2024

As the APEC's host economy, Peru is responsible for organizing more than 160 meetings from the end of 2023 and throughout this year, in accordance with its usual calendar and practices.


These events include the Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM); nine ministerial meetings, highlighting the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Trade (AMM), five meetings of Senior Officials (SOM), as well as the meetings of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the APEC Study Centers Consortium (ASCC).

Why host the event for a third time?

In this regard, it is indicated that this decision is part of the Peruvian State policy of strengthening our relations with the Asia-Pacific region, in order to allow for a beneficial insertion in the face of the accelerated globalization process that we are experiencing.

Peru is hosting APEC for the third time after the 2008 and 2016 editions.


(END) MCA/RMCH/MVB

Published: 10/18/2024