The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting of 2017 will be held on Nov. 10-11 in Vietnam's central Da Nang city.
Leaders and representatives from 21 member economies are expected to discuss issues on sustainable growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region under the theme "Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future."
The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is a top-level meeting under the APEC institutional framework. It provides policy direction for the regional bloc, and considers strategic recommendations provided by APEC Ministers and the APEC Business Advisory Council.
The idea of APEC was first publicly proposed by former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke during a speech in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 31, 1989, in response to growing interdependence between countries and regions in the area and the establishment of regional trade blocs elsewhere in the world.
In November 1989, the first APEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Canberra, Australia, which marked the official establishment of the regional bloc.
APEC had been operating at the ministerial level until November 1993 when the mechanism of APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting was adopted.
The economic leaders' meeting is held on an annual basis. During the meeting, the leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of strategic, economic and trade topics and reach consensus on relevant issues.
At the end of the meeting, an APEC Economic Leaders' declaration will be issued, outlining their shared views on key topics and setting the strategic direction of the APEC economic policies for the forthcoming year.
As a tradition, leaders attending the meeting would dress in the national costume that reflects the culture of the host member.
