GYEONGJU, South Korea. November 1, 2025 — Peru will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in 2034 after receiving the unanimous support of the organization’s leaders meeting in South Korea on Saturday, the Latin American country’s Foreign Ministry said. “The leaders of the member economies expressed their unanimous support for Peru’s candidacy to chair APEC in 2034,” the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, once the forum’s summit in the city of Gyeongju had concluded.
Thus, Peru will become the first member of the forum to host an APEC summit four times, after having chaired these meetings in 2008, 2016 and 2024. “This represents recognition of Peru’s leadership, reliability and commitment to strengthening the cooperation agenda of this important forum,” said the country’s Foreign Ministry.
The APEC summit concluded on Saturday with the adoption of a declaration on the need to expand trade, focused on challenges related to artificial intelligence and demographics. This year’s summit, which began on Friday, was marked by a temporary truce in the trade war between the United States and China, following the bilateral meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the occupant of the White House, Donald Trump, in South Korea.
SUMMIT ENDED BY ADVOCATING EXPANDED TRADE
“For structural reasons, the Asia-Pacific region faces many different problems and, to maintain prosperity, we need to expand trade,” South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said at a press conference after the summit ended. “We have agreed that we must cooperate and consult with each other, and on the basis of those agreements we have adopted three documents,” the president added, including a “Gyeongju Declaration,” named for the southern city where the two-day summit took place.
The joint declaration notes that trade and investment “are vital for the growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region” and the leaders commit to “deepen economic cooperation” within the forum. The second day of the APEC summit focused on the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence and demographic changes, as well as the cultural and creative industries. The meeting was marked by discordant voices between free trade and protectionism, although the document limited itself to “taking note” of the “diverse debates about the current situation.”
This year’s summit was also marked by the temporary truce in the trade war between the United States and China, following the bilateral meeting between Xi and the occupant of the White House, Donald Trump, in South Korea. Xi — a major figure at the summit after the American’s departure — presented himself on Friday as a defender of free trade, arguing in an address to the forum for the need to create “an open regional economic environment and to promote trade, liberalization and the facilitation of investments.”
Trump met last Thursday with the Chinese president in the South Korean city of Busan, reaching a series of agreements that represent a de-escalation of trade tensions. The Republican left South Korea that same day to return to Washington without participating in the leaders’ summit, leaving his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, as the U.S. representative to the forum.
With information from Agence France-Presse
