The 33rd APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting was held in Hong Kong, with many achievements building consensus on Asia-Pacific financial cooperation

China News Service, Hong Kong, October 21 (Reporter Dai Xiaoniang) The 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers' Meeting was held in Hong Kong from the 20th to the 21st. More than 300 representatives from APEC member economies, APEC observers and relevant international organizations attended the meeting.

The meeting reviewed and approved the "2026 APEC Finance Ministers Joint Statement" and the "Asia-Pacific Region Digital Infrastructure Financing Policy Statement", which pointed out the direction for Asia-Pacific economies to deepen financial cooperation; the meeting also produced "Supporting People's Livelihood Development and Investing in People - Fiscal Policy Report to Promote Sustainable Growth in the Asia-Pacific Region" and "Asia-Pacific Inclusive Financial Innovation Practice Case Collection" and other outcome documents, and agreed to continue to promote exchanges and cooperation among young financial talents in the Asia-Pacific region.

This meeting focused on the APEC China Year theme of "Building an Asia-Pacific Community and Promoting Common Prosperity" and discussed topics such as the global and regional macroeconomic and financial situation, fiscal policies to support people's livelihood development, digital infrastructure financing, promoting the development of inclusive finance in accordance with local conditions, and promoting exchanges and cooperation among APEC youth financial talents.

China's Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an presided over the meeting and delivered a speech as the chairman of the meeting. Vice Minister Liao Min spoke on behalf of China. Chen Xu, chairman of the 2026 APEC Senior Officials Meeting, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Lan Fo'an pointed out that the current international situation is intertwined with chaos, geopolitical conflicts have spillover effects, and world economic growth is facing multiple challenges. As a major economic cooperation platform in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC actively promotes open cooperation among members, strengthens macro-policy coordination, promotes regional economic integration, and promotes common development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. All parties should firmly implement the consensus reached at the APEC Leaders' Informal Meeting, adhere to multilateralism, deepen practical cooperation in the financial field, and contribute to regional economic and financial stability and long-term sustainable growth.

Lan Fo'an introduced the continuous improvement of China's economy and emphasized that China will unswervingly promote high-quality development, accelerate the cultivation of new growth drivers, focus on expanding domestic demand, continue to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, and provide new opportunities for the development of the Asia-Pacific and the world with new achievements in Chinese-style modernization.

At the post-meeting press conference on the 21st, Lan Fo'an summarized the three major consensuses reached at this meeting: First, strengthen macroeconomic policy communication and coordination and work together to deal with external risks and challenges; second, promote pragmatic cooperation in the financial and economic fields to help the long-term sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific economy; third, deepen the regional integration process and promote the construction of the Asia-Pacific community. He said that the meeting broadly focused on the common vision of deepening Asia-Pacific financial cooperation, encouraged stronger multilateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, emphasized the importance of APEC financial channels as a regional economic and financial cooperation platform, and promised to work together to deal with various risks and challenges and promote the construction of the Asia-Pacific community.

Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, spoke during the discussion session of the meeting and said that Hong Kong will give full play to its unique advantages under "one country, two systems", make good use of the diversified financing channels and professional services of an international financial center, serve as a "super contact" and "super value-added person", promote the connection of funds, technology and projects in the region, jointly promote more resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth, and let development results benefit people's livelihood.

During the meeting, Ramfoan was invited to hold bilateral meetings with Brunei Minister of Finance Liu Guangming, Vietnam Minister of Finance Ng Van Tuan, Australian Treasury Minister Jim Chalmers, Singapore Minister of Transport and Second Minister of Finance Xiao Zhenxiang, etc., to exchange views on the global and regional macroeconomic situation, cooperation between China and relevant economies under the framework of APEC, ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea, as well as bilateral cooperation and other issues. Lan Fo'an also met with the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lee Ka-chiu.