The APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting was held on Feb 4 and 5 at the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Institute (Shanghai National Accounting Institute). It was the first meeting under the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process since China assumed the role of 2026 APEC host. Liao Min, Vice Minister of Finance, chaired the meeting on behalf of China.

Participants discussed global and regional economic and financial outlook, fiscal policy supporting households, digital infrastructure financing and financial access and opportunity for all. The meeting endorsed the 2026 APEC Finance Ministers’ Process Work Plan proposed by China, as well as the APEC Young Financial Talents Dialogue program.

Liao pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region remains a major engine of global economic growth amid multiple evolving challenges, including trade policy uncertainty, population aging and high debt levels. He called on APEC economies to uphold multilateralism, strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, deepen regional cooperation and enhance fiscal and financial resilience, so as to jointly promote sustainable economic growth in the region and advance the building of an Asia-Pacific community.

Liao also introduced the guiding principles of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC and the key points of the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the CPC for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for National Economic and Social Development, elaborating on the long-term positive fundamentals of China’s economy. He emphasized that China will continue to promote high-quality development and advance a growth model driven primarily by domestic demand, powered by consumption and underpinned by endogenous growth.

Before and on the sidelines of the meeting, Liao also met or held exchanges with participants, including Tran Quoc Phuong, Vice Minister of Finance of Viet Nam; Joven Balbosa, Undersecretary of Department of Finance of the Philippines; Francis Brooke, Acting Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury; Jeffery Yabom, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea; Laura Jaitman, Director for Multilateral Economic Affairs at the World Bank Group; and Alice McKenzie, Program Director of the APEC Secretariat. They exchanged views on financial and economic issues of mutual interest at bilateral and multilateral levels.