Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, April 22 (Reporter Wang Xinyi, Wang Qian) The 2024 APEC Business Leaders Summit High-level Forum and Global Promotion Conference was held in Hong Kong on the 22nd. As the outpost of this year's summit, the holding of this forum marks the official opening of the APEC Year of Peru.

The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Mr Yau Ying-wah, said at the opening ceremony that the APEC Business Leaders Summit has become an indispensable part of APEC by encouraging all parties to engage in dialogue and cooperation to build an open, vibrant, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community. He looks forward to the APEC Business Leaders Summit to be held in Lima, Peru, in November.

Rebecca Maria, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, said that APEC is different from other international organizations and has unique value because of its introduction of business perspectives, which helps to bring together the concerns of the business community and promote economic growth and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Luciano Paredes, Executive Director of the 2024 APEC Business Leaders Summit, said in his keynote speech that APEC has promoted substantial economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, and behind it is the comprehensive driving force of APEC's economic integration, which has promoted sustainable prosperity and development. He gave a detailed introduction to the APEC Business Leaders Summit held in November this year, and said that Peru will host the summit again after 2016 and looks forward to holding it even better, and issued invitations to the guests.

Fernando Zavala, Chairman of the 2024 APEC Business Leaders Summit and former Prime Minister of Peru, said that the Peruvian economy is currently developing steadily in the direction of sustainable growth and hopes to further integrate into the global economy through the corresponding free trade agreements.

This is the first time that the APEC Business Leaders Summit has held a global promotion conference, aiming to help the business community actively speak out and deeply participate in the APEC platform. The forum was held concurrently with the second meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2024. ABAC representatives from Singapore, Peru, New Zealand and other economies participated in the forum dialogue.