APEC Meeting in Gyeongju on the 24th... Over 1,500 Delegates

On the 24th, more than 1,500 delegates from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will gather in Gyeongju.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 14th that the 2025 APEC 1st Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and its subsidiary meetings will be held in Gyeongbuk Gyeongju for about two weeks starting from the 24th.

This meeting consists of 24 meetings, including the four main committee meetings such as the Trade and Investment Committee and the Economic and Technical Cooperation Steering Committee, as well as the Customs Procedures Sub-Committee, Business Mobility Group, and Digital Economy Steering Group. As part of the Finance Ministers' Process, meetings of deputy finance ministers and deputy governors of central banks will also be held. Most of the chairs of each meeting will be held by representatives of our government, and more than 1,500 participants, including deputy finance ministers from each country, are expected to attend.

The SOM is a key consultative body that synthesizes and reviews the discussions of various APEC forums, implements and supervises the decisions of the leaders' and ministers' meetings, and is attended by senior officials from the 21 member economies. In 2025, when our country holds the chairmanship, a total of four senior officials' meetings will be held until the leaders' meeting in the second half of the year, with meetings scheduled to take place in Jeju in May and Incheon in July following the Gyeongju meeting.

The 2025 APEC Leaders' Meeting Preparation Planning Group, which oversees the 2025 APEC meetings, held a meeting with related ministries and agencies the previous afternoon chaired by Yoon Seong-mi, Chair of the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, to review the preparation status in anticipation of the 1st SOM. A total of 27 officials at the director and division chief level from related ministries and agencies attended this inter-agency meeting to discuss the operational direction of subsidiary forums during the 1st Senior Officials' Meeting and the main expected outcomes.