The Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting (ISOM) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) for 2026 was held in Shenzhen, China, from December 11 to 12. During the meeting, China introduced the theme and priorities for APEC 2026, planning to elaborate on these through annual senior officials’ meetings and sectoral ministerial meetings.
The Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) is a high-level consultative body that discusses cooperation issues among APEC member countries, holding four official meetings and one informal meeting annually, with the results reported to the Joint Ministerial Meeting and the Leaders’ Meeting. At this meeting, Yun Sung-mi, the chair of the 2025 APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, detailed the main discussions of the Gyeongju APEC Leaders’ Meeting and the key documents agreed upon this year, including the
Prior to the main meeting, China hosted a symposium on December 11, inviting APEC members and academic figures to share various perspectives on the theme and priorities for 2026. From South Korea, Senior Official Lee Ji-yoon attended as a speaker, emphasizing the close linkage between South Korea’s 2025 agenda and achievements with China’s vision for 2026, and highlighting the importance of a sustainable and effective capacity-building model at the APEC level to address digital opportunities and new challenges.
Yun Sung-mi also had a separate meeting with Chen Xu, the chair of China’s APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, to share South Korea’s experience as the chair country for APEC 2025 and discuss cooperation measures between chair countries to continue the major achievements of APEC this year.