Gov’t approves plans for next year’s APEC summit at prep meeting

The government committee responsible for preparations for next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea held an interagency meeting Wednesday to decide plans for the multilateral gathering, officials said. The third APEC preparatory meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, took place to discuss the direction of initiatives and other details for the summit South Korea is hosting in November 2025, the foreign ministry said in a release. In June, the committee chose the country's southeastern provincial city of Gyeongju as the host city for the APEC summit. In Wednesday's meeting, the committee approved basic plans for the APEC summit, under which a series of senior officials' meetings among the APEC members are expected to take place. The committee decided that next year's APEC theme will be "Building a Sustainable Tomorrow," demonstrating a commitment to realizing "an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific in the near future," the ministry said. The committee called for "connect," "innovate" and "prosper" as three keywords for the main initiatives of the upcoming APEC summit. The committee also decided that separate preparatory meetings will be held at the central and local government levels, as well as among ministers. Source: Yonhap News Agency