The 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Informal Leaders’ Meeting was held in Gyeongju, South Korea, from October 31 to November 1. According to Nanjing Customs statistics, Jiangsu’s imports and exports with other APEC economies totaled 2.73 trillion RMB in the first three quarters of this year, marking a 4.6% year-on-year increase.

APEC is the highest-level, broadest, and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, closely linking the northern and southern hemispheres. “We are actively expanding into emerging markets within APEC economies, such as Southeast Asia and Latin America. In the first nine months of this year, for example, our vacuum cleaner exports to Peru increased by 70.7% year-on-year,” said Liang Wen, Customs Manager at Jiangsu Midea Clean Electric Appliances Co., Ltd. “Under the China-Peru Free Trade Agreement, the import tariff rate dropped from 9% to 0, which significantly boosts our products’ price competitiveness.”

In Zhenjiang, the “Zhenjiang Port–Port of Salina Cruz, Mexico” shipping route efficiently transports engineering equipment from across China. “Our current equipment exports include specialized, heavy items such as steel structures, rotary kilns, and gantry cranes, valued at 112 million RMB,” said Kong Lingrong, Shipping Department Manager at Zhenjiang Far East International Ship Agency Co., Ltd. “Customs authorities guided us in applying for facilitation measures like ‘direct loading upon arrival’ and ’scheduled inspections’, which saved us significant time.” According to Zhenjiang Customs, the city’s exports of engineering machinery to other APEC economies reached 320 million RMB in the first three quarters, a 67.3% year-on-year increase.

“We leverage our group’s global brand influence and the supply chain and manufacturing advantages of our local factory. Core products such as cushion foundation and sunscreen are very popular in the Asia-Pacific market,” said Kim Jeong-ho, Chairman of Kolmar Cosmetics (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. “From January to September this year, we completed 68 export batches of finished products, with the export value increasing nearly 3.7-fold year-on-year.”