APEC Summit places San Francisco at center of world stage
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit is drawing world leaders, dignitaries and delegations from the 21 member economies to San Francisco.
It's the first time the United States has hosted the summit since 2011 and the third time it has taken place on U.S. soil since APEC's formation in 1989.
"This is a once-in-a-century kind of event. San Francisco is going to be on the world stage and we're going to put on our best show," said San Francisco board of supervisors president Aaron Peskin. "This is the largest gathering of international players in San Francisco since the United Nations Charter was signed here in 1945."
APEC is more of a forum than a decision-making body, says UC Berkeley distinguished professor of political science Vinnie Aggarwal.
"This is a big deal in the sense that we have real, societal and governmental groupings working together, thinking about -- to put it very simply -- how can we improve the world?" he said.
APEC is primarily focused on economic topics. However, its issue scope has expanded since its formation in 1989, according to Aggarwal.
"APEC's original point was to promote free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region," he said. "The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum is a multi-lateral forum in the Asia-Pacific that deals with a host of issues, including the economy, investment, green technology, high technology, inclusivity and issues that we need to talk about among ourselves."
One highly-anticipated event is scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the summit: A face-to-face meeting between Pres. Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Aggarwal says that will be a significant event but it is not the primary focus of the summit.
"The Biden-Xi meeting is not the central aspect of APEC. It's on the quote, sidelines, of the APEC meeting. There will be other bilateral meetings between Japan and Korea, whose relations are now getting better -- between the United States and, maybe, Malaysia," he said. "We will see progress on thinking about how to deal with green and climate change and what we should be doing in terms of becoming innovative. We'll probably have a discussion about A.I., which is becoming extremely important as everybody worries their jobs will be lost because some A.I. engine is going to take over. So I think that's an important issue. Then I think thinking about inclusivity is important -- to make sure that everyone is a part of the global economy and it's not just for major corporations."
The meetings run through the week, with the summit coming to a close on Friday.