The APEC logo is displayed in front of the main entrance of Gyeongju railway station in the ROK. ZHANG YUNBI/CHINA DAILY

With the Republic of Korea due to host the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting this week, followed by China next year, officials, scholars and business leaders have voiced high hopes that the success of both events will boost the region's free trade, growth and governance.

The ROK's southeastern city of Gyeongju — once the capital of the ancient Silla Dynasty on the Korean Peninsula — will host the annual meeting on Friday and Saturday, which will focus on areas such as sustainability, digital transformation and trade cooperation.

Park Jang-ho, director of the APEC Preparation and Support Office, said Gyeongju was chosen as the host city because of its cultural and historical strengths as well as its hotels and exhibition facilities.

The ROK is expected to present its strengths in cutting-edge technologies, and "executives of many leading enterprises in APEC member economies, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, will attend the relevant APEC events", he told China Daily. Park said China and the ROK enjoy a profound history of exchanges, adding that the ROK attaches "great importance "to China.

"It will be greatly significant to have the APEC meeting convened in Gyeongju, and as China will take over the APEC presidency next year, the interactions between the two countries will be even more frequent, giving a further boost to bilateral ties," he said.

The two nations have seen a slew of important official and subnational exchanges in recent months covering key topics including APEC and bilateral cooperation.

During a phone conversation with his ROK counterpart Cho Hyun on Oct 7, Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed hope that the two sides will support each other and "further build consensus among various parties".

The two countries are expected to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, safeguard the international trading system, uphold the concept of multilateralism, advance the process of building a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region, and make positive efforts toward building an Asia-Pacific community, he added.

Banners are seen in the streets of Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea, before the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting. ZHANG YUNBI/CHINA DAILY

Cho said the ROK looks forward to the opportunity of hosting the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to promote high-level exchanges between the two countries and deepen exchanges and cooperation.

Seoul attaches great importance to and will spare no effort in developing relations with China, Cho added.

Boosting regional growth

Beijing places great emphasis on APEC cooperation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters earlier this month. "We stand ready to work with other parties at this year's meeting to produce positive outcomes and contribute to the economic growth of the Asia-Pacific and the wider world," he added.

The significance of Asia-Pacific cooperation is reflected in statistics released recently by the General Administration of Customs. China's trade with APEC economies totaled 19.41 trillion yuan (about $2.7 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, a 2 percent year-on-year increase.

Combined trade with fellow APEC economies accounts for nearly 58 percent of China's total foreign trade, Lyu Daliang, spokesman for the GAC and head of its department of statistics and analysis, said on Oct 13.

According to Lyu, China's imports and exports of high-tech products with other APEC economies in the first three quarters both exceeded 2 trillion yuan, up 7.9 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Staff at the media center distribute materials to journalists on Tuesday. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

APEC is an important platform for regional economic cooperation, and "at present, Asia-Pacific cooperation is also faced with challenges such as geopolitics, unilateralism and protectionism", he said.

"Building consensus among various parties and deepening cooperation in various fields is conducive to jointly addressing regional economic challenges and making the Asia-Pacific region more prosperous."

Lee Jae-woong, spokesman and deputy minister for public affairs of the ROK's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said APEC economies face similar economic challenges.

"The ROK will make the APEC event a success, so will China," he told China Daily. "China will build on the achievements of this year's event and make its original contributions next year," he added.

Liu Chenyang, director of the APEC Study Center of Nankai University in Tianjin, said areas for cooperation have rapidly expanded from traditional ones such as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, economic and technological cooperation to include areas based on high-quality growth, such as the digital economy, innovation, and green and low-carbon development.

Small and medium-sized, and developing economies urgently need to build development momentum through regional cooperation while seeking opportunities to narrow development gaps and bridge the digital divide, Liu said. "APEC has a significant strength in this regard," he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Singapore Cao Zhongming said Beijing is looking forward to strengthening coordination with various parties to "jointly advance open regionalism and create an East Asian Moment for APEC".

"As long as we uphold the principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, deepen cooperation, and jointly address challenges, we will surely drive regional cooperation to new heights and make a greater contribution to peace and prosperity in Asia and beyond," Cao said when addressing a symposium in Singapore last month.

编辑：张娟