Last Call: Media Registration for APEC Trade Ministers Meeting

The upcoming APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting on 5 June will focus on supporting the Asia-Pacific region’s economic recovery.

Held annually, the meeting includes trade ministers from 21 APEC member economies. It will be chaired by New Zealand Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor. 

In 2020, APEC trade ministers issued a declaration to keep supply chains open and facilitate the movement of essential goods to support the COVID response. This year ministers will continue to focus on ensuring that essential goods – like vaccines – are moving across borders safely and efficiently.

“Together, we have an opportunity to put international trade at the heart of the Asia-Pacific economic rebuild, and to accelerate our region’s recovery,” Minister O’Connor said.

“Combatting COVID together has reaffirmed that free, fair and open trade is critical,” he added. “It has highlighted once again how interlinked our APEC economies are, and how we depend on each other for prosperity.”

Leading the forum under the 2021 guiding theme, “Join, Work, Grow. Together,” New Zealand is organizing APEC’s agenda around three policy priorities: 1) economic and trade policies that strengthen recovery; 2) increasing inclusion and sustainability for recovery; and 3) pursuing innovation and a digitally enabled recovery.

The Asia-Pacific region’s economic growth declined by 1.9 percent in 2020, although better than an earlier projection of a 2.7 percent contraction, economic growth and progress toward recovery across APEC is uneven.

Responding to the pandemic through the essential role of trade will be at the top of the agenda. This includes ensuring open markets, enabling the safe and efficient distribution of vaccines and steering the region toward a rapid economic recovery.

APEC ministers responsible for trade will also seek to tackle shared challenges such as the movement of vaccines, safe reopening of travel, closing the digital gap, as well as the further liberalization of environmental goods and services. They are also expected to reaffirm their commitment to the multilateral trading system.

To kick-start the dialogue, APEC ministers will also join the region’s business leaders from the APEC Business Advisory Council to discuss policy recommendations from the private sector on 4 June.

Media registration and opportunities

Ministers responsible for trade from all APEC economies will be invited to participate in a virtual media conference, which will be held immediately prior to the meeting and chaired by Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor. 

Date                : Saturday, 5 June 2021

Time                : 18:00 (SG) or 22:00 (NZ)

Duration          : 45 minutes

Media who have already completed the APEC 2021 accreditation process will be automatically registered for the virtual media conference. Access to the media event will appear in the APEC 2021 Participant Portal 48 hours before the event’s scheduled start.

Members of the media who are not part of member economies’ delegations and wish to register as an independent media delegate, should register by emailing [email protected] and providing the following information:

• Title (Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms/Dame/Sir/Dr/Prof)
• First name and surname
• Gender (male/female/gender diverse)
• Email address
• Mobile phone number, including international dialing code (for example +64). This phone number will be used to send a secure two-factor authentication code (by SMS message) to log into the APEC 2021 virtual meeting platform
• News organization
• Job title
• A photo of your business card or press card; or an email or letter confirming your employment

  Approved applicants will receive an email of confirmation with further information regarding account set up. Once registered, members of the media will be accredited for the rest of the year and will have access to each virtual media event. The deadline for the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting media registration is Monday, 31 May 2021.

Additional resources for media

• To access the 2021 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting media kit, follow this link.
• For more information on APEC 2021 New Zealand, visit www.apec2021nz.org.
• To view the 2021 meeting calendar, please visit this link.

For further details, please contact:

Cas Carter +64 21 341 509 at [email protected]  (in New Zealand)
Sidah Russell +64 21 359 235 at [email protected] (in New Zealand)
Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at [email protected]