Malaysia Hosted the Leaders’ Summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Malaysia hosted the Leaders’ Summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The Leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum joined the summit that was held on November 20, 2020.

Highlights

• The summit was also attended by former U.S. PresidentDonald Trump.
• The leaders from the APEC forum agreed to work toward free, open and non-discriminatory trade and investment. This would help in reviving the economies that has been hit because of Corona virus.
• The next meeting of the APEC will be hosted by New Zealand.

Background

The APEC leaders’ meeting was held after 2018 when Chile had cancelled the annual summit because of violent domestic protests. Later, at the Papua New Guinea summit in 2018, APEC leaders failed to issue joint statement for the first time because of U.S.-China war over trade policies.

What all countries do participate?

The APEC brings about the countries like Australia, Canada, Brunei, China, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and the United States together.

APEC Malaysia 2020

It is a year-long hosting of APEC meetings in Malaysia. The meeting was started in December 2019 and concluded in November 2020. Malaysia hosted the meeting second time. First time, Malaysia held the meeting in the year 1998. After the virtual summit, APEC leaders issued the Kuala Lumpur Declaration. The meeting was held under the theme “Optimizing Human Potential Towards a Resilient Future of Shared Prosperity: Pivot, Prioritize, Progress”. The logo of the meeting is an image of Malaysia’s national flower called Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.