The 2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting will take place in Lima, Peru, next Friday. President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and senior advisor to the president Lin Hsin-i (林信義) spoke at a pre-departure press conference this Thursday to detail the trip’s objectives.
Lin, who will represent Taiwan at the 2024 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM), said he would like to take advantage of the opportunity to express Taiwan’s spirit of mutual assistance, reciprocity, and complementarity by way of bilateral exchanges. Lin elaborated that he will demonstrate Taiwan is a kind, trustworthy, and responsible member that contributes to the peace, stability, and development of the Asia-Pacific region.
President Lai underscored that Taiwan is committed to working with APEC members to create a fairer and more inclusive international trade order. Additionally, Taiwan aims to promote the development of digital trade with other economies. He stressed the importance digital trade holds among APEC members’ economies.
Lai stated that APEC is the most important multilateral economic and trade cooperation forum in the Asia-Pacific region, its purpose being to promote economic integration, growth, and development in the region through dialogue and consultation. APEC Peru 2024 is centered around the theme “Empower. Include. Grow.”, Lai said he hopes Lin and the delegation will center their discussion around the three topics while sharing Taiwan’s development and contributions in fields such as AI and digital health.