Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

December 16, 2025
Japanese
State Minister Horii shakes hand with Executive Director Pedrosa
State Minister Horii and Executive Director Pedrosa facing each other and exchanging words

On December 15, Mr. HORII Iwao, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a working dinner with Mr. Eduardo Pedrosa, Executive Director, APEC Secretariat, who is visiting Japan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The overview is as follows; Mr. WATANABE Shige, Ambassador in charge of Economic Diplomacy (APEC Senior Official) accompanied the dinner.

  1. State Minister Horii emphasized that, amid an increasing uncertainty of global economy, the importance of APEC continues to grow for sustainable growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the necessity of maintaining and invigorating APEC activities in the coming years. Likewise, he stated that a rules-based, free and fair economic order is crucial also in the APEC framework.
  2. Executive Director Pedrosa, following the expression of gratitude for the invitation, highly commended Japan's past contributions to APEC. He also expressed his intention to further strengthen APEC's role as a non-binding and consensus-based cooperation to achieve free trade and economic development within APEC region.
  3. Both sides agreed to further enhance cooperation between the APEC Secretariat and Japan toward Japan’s hosting APEC in 2031.
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