In 2026, the APEC "Year of China" will be celebrated, and the first plenary meeting of the APEC Customs Subcommittee in 2026 will be officially held in Guangzhou on February 4. The three-day meeting will focus on the theme of "building an Asia Pacific community and promoting common prosperity", focusing on the three priority directions of openness, innovation, and cooperation, injecting new momentum into Asia Pacific trade facilitation and supply chain stability. The conference released heavyweight data: During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the total import and export value between China and other APEC economies reached 125.49 trillion yuan, an increase of 39.4% compared to the 13th Five Year Plan period; By 2025, the bilateral trade volume will reach 2.629 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly 60% of China's total foreign trade value. The dividends of Asia Pacific economic and trade cooperation will continue to be released and resilience will be significantly enhanced.

Currently, the Asia Pacific economy accounts for over 60% of the global total and trade volume is close to half of the world's total. It is the core engine of global economic recovery and growth, carrying the common expectation of coordinated development and shared prosperity among various economies. As the Chairman of the APEC Customs Procedures Subcommittee in 2026, China Customs demonstrated its sense of responsibility at the meeting. Zhao Zenglian, Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Customs, stated that Customs is the gateway bridge for opening up to the outside world and the regulatory guardian of international trade. It shoulders the mission of improving efficiency through regulatory innovation, gathering consensus through international cooperation, and promoting prosperity through interconnectivity, laying a solid foundation for customs clearance and trade security in building the Asia Pacific Community.

Based on the core needs of regional trade security and facilitation, Chinese Customs issued three practical initiatives to APEC economies at the meeting, anchoring three directions of inclusiveness, stable and smooth chain, and digital empowerment: first, deepen inclusiveness, comprehensively promote the implementation of the "Smart Customs" partnership plan, deepen collaboration in paperless trade, cross-border e-commerce, green trade and other fields, and let the fruits of opening up benefit more market entities; Secondly, we will focus on stabilizing and smoothing the supply chain, strengthen the coordination of institutional rules and standards, accelerate the promotion of "soft connectivity" between rules and standards, and overcome the bottlenecks and difficulties in regional supply chains; The third is to highlight the empowerment of digital intelligence, accelerate the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of customs, comprehensively enhance modern governance capabilities, and empower efficient cross-border trade operation with technology.

This meeting brings together over 100 representatives from customs, international organizations, academia, and business communities from 18 APEC economies to engage in in-depth consultations on hot topics such as technological innovation, smart customs construction, and cross-border trade facilitation. As the highest level, most extensive, and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia Pacific region, the APEC Customs Procedures Subcommittee has been the core platform for customs procedures innovation, technological iteration, and rule optimization since its establishment in 1994, providing sustained impetus for building a more interconnected, secure, and resilient Asia Pacific supply chain.

From a trade record of over 125 trillion yuan in five years to the initiatives and consensus of the Guangzhou Conference, China has taken the APEC "China Year" as an opportunity to continuously deepen Asia Pacific economic and trade cooperation. With facilitation of customs clearance, integration of rules, and digital intelligence as the starting points, China has promoted regional trade from scale growth to quality and efficiency improvement, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to Asia Pacific economic integration and common prosperity.Editor/Bian Wenjun