Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders did not mention the conflict in Ukraine and the escalation of the Palestine-Israel conflict in their final joint communique that was passed at the regional forum’s summit in San Francisco, California.
"Our steady commitment to APEC’s mission has helped our region become a vanguard of global growth," the document pointed out, adding that member states are “committed to necessary reform of the WTO [World Trade Organization] to improve all of its functions, including conducting discussions with a view to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024.”
This came as an APEC chair’s statement noted that some leaders objected to the inclusion of Ukraine- and Gaza-related issues in the declaration “on the basis that they do not believe that APEC is a forum to discuss geopolitical issues.”
This was echoed by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, head of the Russian delegation at the APEC summit, who expressed hope that APEC will remain a purely economic forum despite attempts to politicize it.
"As for the politicization of the APEC format, such signals certainly reach us. But we hope there will be no politicization," Overchuk told reporters.
APEC is a trade and economic forum of 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Russia, China, the US and Australia. This year's summit in San Francisco took place on November 11–17.