Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Prime Minister TAKAICHI’s Attendance at the APEC Leaders’ Meeting 2025 Session II
November 1, 2025
(Photo: Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
(Photo: Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
(Photo: Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
On November 1 (local time), from 10:00 a.m. for approximately two and a half hours, the second session of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting (theme: "Preparing a Future-Ready Asia-Pacific”) was held in Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea (ROK). The session was chaired by H.E. Mr. LEE Jae Myung, President of the ROK, and attended by Ms. TAKAICHI Sanae, Prime Minister of Japan. The overview of the session is as follows.
- At the outset, President LEE, as Chair of the meeting, expressed his intention to hold discussions on how to make new trends, such as AI, demographic changes, and the cultural and creative industries as engines of growth.
- Prime Minister TAKAICHI, bearing in mind that investment in growth sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the content industry is important for Japan to achieve economic growth amid a declining birthrate and an aging population, made the following three points.
- While the practical use of AI is rapidly expanding and can serve as an engine of economic growth, it is essential to establish a safe, secure, and trustworthy AI ecosystem. Japan has been supporting governance building through the “Hiroshima AI Process,” which has been endorsed by over 50 countries and regions. Taking into account the recently announced the “Japan-ASEAN Co-Creation Initiative for AI,” Japan will work towards the co-creation of an AI ecosystem tailored to the needs of APEC economies.
- Recognizing labor shortages due to a falling birthrate and aging population as a serious challenge, Japan has been striving to promote digitalization and an improved work environment for everyone and wishes to share its experience and knowledge and advance cooperation with other countries and regions.
- Referring to the remarkable growth of the content and other cultural and creative industries in Japan and across the Asia-Pacific region, Japan expressed its support for further cooperation among APEC economies to foster an enabling environment for the promotion of these industries, including through measures against piracy and counterfeit goods.
- Many of the participating Leaders made remarks on the promotion of the use of AI and digital technologies and its capacity building, the need for prompt response to demographic changes, and the promotion of cultural and creative industries.
- Japan was officially confirmed as the host economy for APEC in 2031.