LIMA, Peru (AP) — Leaders of Pacific Rim countries including the U.S. and China gathered Friday in Peru for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, the first major global summit since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory.
The annual gathering brings together 21 economies that jointly account for almost two-thirds of global GDP and half the world’s trade, according to organizers.
Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden joined China’s President Xi Jinping, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others as the world wonders how a new U.S. government might upend global dynamics.
Leaders and other representatives will hold closed-door discussions in the morning, following a welcome address by Peru's President Dina Boluarte that focused on the need to promote inclusive growth and reduce informal labor in APEC economies.
“Our objective is to level the playing field, providing all the necessary tools for inclusion in social, financial and commercial spaces,” Boluarte said. “We are convinced that growth starts with inclusion and that this is only possible through the empowerment of the citizenry that is the motor of our economies.”
APEC is bound to be one of Biden's last global summits before leaving office, and White House officials insist that his attendance as well as his subsequent visit to Brazil for the Group of 20 meeting next week will be substantive, with talks to focus on climate issues, global infrastructure, counter-narcotic efforts. For the first time since last year’s APEC forum, Biden will meet one-on-one with Chinese President Xi on Saturday. He will also meet with South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol, Japan’s Shigeru Ishiba and Peru’s Boluarte.
The officials say Biden also will use the summits to press allies to keep up support for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s invasion and persist in negotiating an end to Israel's wars in Lebanon and Gaza.
Still, analysts say he will be overshadowed at APEC by Xi. On Friday, Xi will meet with South Korea's Yoon, whose office said the two are expected to discuss economic cooperation and cultural exchanges, as well as the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Xi on Thursday night inaugurated a $1.3 billion megaport that is perhaps the clearest sign of Latin America’s ongoing reorientation in the region.
The Chancay port will shave 10 days off shipping times to China, which has seen trade with South America boom over the past two decades. Peru’s economy minister in June said neighboring nations are actively modifying their supply chains to benefit from the port, in which total investment will top $3.5 billion.
Ahead of the inauguration at the port, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Lima, locals told The Associated Press that the development hasn't buoyed their economic prospects. On the contrary, they said the port has impaired their ability to fish, threatening their livelihoods.
Discontent has been brewing in the middle-class San Borja neighborhood outside Lima’s Convention Center, where the APEC conference is sited. Metal barriers and police equipped with riot gear surround the perimeter where, for the past two days, anti-government protesters angry about a recent spate of gang-fueled violence have shouted slogans demanding that their wildly unpopular president take action against the crime wave.
The rallies have devolved into scuffles with police, who used batons to drive away the more aggressive protesters on Thursday. As APEC leaders gathered on Friday, a few dozen protesters were stopped by security barricades several blocks from the convention center. Vastly outnumbered by riot police, they chanted against government corruption and denounced Boluarte for the deaths of dozens of protesters in the wake of her predecessor’s ouster.
“Why would we want APEC here when the investment is just going to line their pockets?” Maria Melendez, a 48-year-old tour guide said of corrupt government officials. “We’re hungry and they’re over there talking about billions of dollars. How is that going to help us?”
Mia Rivera, 58, held a portrait of the ousted president, Pedro Castillo, and said she was discouraged by the low turnout. She said the heavy police presence and memory of the violent crackdown against demonstrators in 2022 deterred many of her friends from marching this week.
In the afternoon, APEC leaders and representatives will meet with members of the group's business advisory council. The council met Wednesday and called on APEC economies to boost inclusive growth and prioritize the needs of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those led by women and Indigenous entrepreneurs.
“While the global economy remains resilient, APEC economies are grappling with persistent inflation, economic disparities, high interest rates and the urgent need to increase investments for a green, climate-resilient future,” said council chairwoman Julia Torreblanca.
David Biller And Isabel Debre, The Associated Press