Singapore set to host APEC Summit in 2030

SINGAPORE: Singapore has offered to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in 2030, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Saturday (Nov 16).

APEC continues to be an important platform for economic cooperation and the 21 member economies collectively make up nearly half of global trade, Mr Wong said at the close of this year’s summit in Lima, Peru.

"Singapore regards this as an important grouping, not just for trade and investment, because APEC also serves as an incubator for ideas around other areas of cooperation, like supply chains, digital economy and sustainability," he told reporters.

Singapore will do its part to support APEC in different ways, including the hosting of APEC Summits, Mr Wong said.

"We have offered to host the APEC Summit in 2030," he added.

The last time Singapore hosted an APEC Summit was in 2009.

WORLD AT INFLEXION POINT

When asked about his takeaway from the Summit this year, Mr Wong noted that there was "widespread recognition" that the world is at an inflexion point.

"There are powerful forces that are shaping the trajectory of events in the coming years," he told reporters.

Given growing geopolitical rivalry and tensions, Mr Wong noted that more things are being viewed through a security lens, rather than through win-win economic cooperation.

He added that there is a sense that citizens and people across many economies of APEC feel that free trade has not benefited them, and that not everyone is getting a fair share in the progress of their respective economies.

"And so there is, across the board, a concern that support for globalisation and trade is weakening," he noted.

"Of course, what can we do about this? One response would be to simply put up more barriers, but it is good that the APEC economies across the board reject that response, and feel that the right way to go about dealing with these concerns is to double down on our trade and investment links, make sure that trade works for the benefit of all our peoples, and find ways to make growth more inclusive."

Mr Wong also noted that the leaders of APEC economies recognise "at the broad level" the need for stronger trade linkages.

"But each one will face constraints, domestic circumstances, and may not be able to move at the same pace," he said. 

Citing the example of climate change, Mr Wong said: "The starting point to fight global warming and to tackle climate change is to put a price on carbon and phase out subsidies to fossil fuels. But not everyone is able to make that move. Each one will move at their own pace, because there are domestic considerations, political sensitivities and so on."

So what is important is at least there is a broad understanding of the end point, he noted.

"We recognise that not everyone can move in tandem, and so we will try to gather like-minded economies to move first," he said.

Mr Wong added that among the APEC economies, the smaller, more open economies like Singapore, New Zealand and Chile, have often come together to be "pathfinders".

This was done with the P4 (Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand), which resulted in the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), and then the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, noted Mr Wong.

P4 is a wide-ranging economic agreement signed in 2005 and the CPTPP is a free-trade agreement between 11 countries, including Brunei, Singapore, Chile and New Zealand, which was signed in 2018. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement was initially signed by Singapore, Chile and New Zealand in 2020 establishing new approaches and collaborations in digital trade issues. South Korea joined in 2024.

Chile, New Zealand and Singapore have come together to form a joint working group around trade in the green economy, he said.

"We hope this will allow us to again serve as a pathfinder to work out what rules, standards are required for exchange and collaboration around low carbon and green solutions, and that would allow more cross-border trade in low carbon activities," he added.

"If we are able to put in place this framework, hopefully this can eventually grow into another international initiative."

US-CHINA RELATIONSHIP "IN A MORE CHALLENGING PLACE"

The US-China relationship is in a more challenging place and there is mutual suspicion and mistrust on both sides, Mr Wong told reporters on Saturday.

The US sees China's rise as something that is not in its own or national interest and therefore treats China as a strategic competitor, said Mr Wong.

On the other hand, China feels that America is taking steps to contain and suppress its rise, he added.

"That has resulted in the relationship – more and more – being put in a very difficult and challenging position," he said. 

However, Mr Wong noted that President Biden and President Xi have been able to "engage one another at the leadership level and put guardrails in place to prevent the relationship from going down a path of no return".

They have been able to establish what each other's red lines are when it comes to potential hot spots such as Taiwan or the South China Sea, and to establish a mutual understanding not to escalate these sorts of issues, Mr Wong said.

On the other hand, when it comes to areas of shared interests, like climate change, they have been able to come together and still engage one another on projects for shared interests, he added.

"We hope that with the new Trump Administration, China will likewise be able to establish similar guardrails.

"So even if the relationship is one where there will continue to be fierce competition, even where there will be differences of views in many areas, we hope that guardrails can be put in place so that there will be continued engagement across multiple fronts, reduce the risk of misunderstanding, reduce the risk of accidents and miscalculations, and therefore reduce the risk of conflict happening between these two powers."

"That is our wish for both sides, and to the extent that Singapore can help, we will certainly do our part to facilitate," said Mr Wong.

Mr Wong was in Peru from Nov 14 to Nov 16 for the APEC Economic Leaders' Summit and will now travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the G20 Summit.