The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will be held in the United States for the first time since 2011.

The United States on Monday said it is working hard to try to get a strong consensus leaders’ statement at APEC summit this week.

“We’re certainly working toward having a strong consensus statement in APEC for the leaders to be able to release at the end of the week,” Matt Murray, senior US official for APEC said at a briefing.

Acknowledging that there had been “a lot of friction over the last couple of years over statements, primarily due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Murray added: “But last year Thailand hosted APEC and was able to announce a consensus leaders’ declaration, and we certainly want to try to do the same thing this year.”

“And we’re working very hard with all of our like-minded partners and economies, economic partners throughout APEC, to try to deliver that kind of result,” said Murray.

At this year’s APEC summit, India would be represented at ministerial-level meetings as a “guest economy”.

The APEC forum, that will be held against the backdrop of economic and military tensions with China and at a time of global turmoil from the wars between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine, will discuss how to spur trade and economic growth across the Pacific region.

The meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday is expected to be a centerpiece of the gathering.

They are likely to hold talks on trade, Taiwan and managing fraught US-China ties.

The APEC forum also include a ‘CEO summit’ that will bring together business and government leaders from across the world. 

APEC accounts for about 62% of global GDP and almost half of global trade.

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Updated: 14 Nov 2023, 12:39 AM IST