China: APEC economies reach agreement on Chengdu Declaration to facilitate cooperation on AI.

Storyline APEC economies reach agreement on Chengdu Declaration to facilitate cooperation on AI The 2026 APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting wraps up in Chengdu, southwest China. As a key mechanism event under the APEC framework, the meeting serves as an important platform for advancing regional cooperation on digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Li Lecheng, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, announced that all APEC economies had reached agreement on the Chengdu Declaration, committing to jointly harness digital and AI technologies for the benefit of the Asia-Pacific community. Eduardo Pedrosa, APEC Executive Director: "Over more than three decades, APEC economies have worked together to move from basic connectivity to broadband, the digital transformation, and now to AI empowered growth. Looking back at these achievements helps us to explain where we are today. APEC's work in this area has never been only about technology. It has always been about what technology enables: trade, participation, productivity, services, resilience, development, connectivity, and opportunity. Digital and AI are woven into almost every part of the APEC agenda." Janet De Silva, Chairperson, Digital and Innovation Working Group of ABAC: "Our businesses are ready to innovate, our people are ready to learn and adapt. Investment capital is ready. The question is whether our policies are ready to help every business and every worker succeed in the AI economy. APEC has always succeeded by anticipating economic change rather than reacting to it. The first digital era connected people. The AI era is transforming how people work. Our task now is to ensure every business and every worker can benefit from that transformation." [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]