Photo: Baidu

2014 marks the 25th anniversary of APEC. The last time China hosted APEC was in 2001, for the 9th APEC Economic Leaders Meeting.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the theme of the meeting from Nov. 5-11 will be “Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership”.

President Xi Jinping will attend and host this meeting. China, as the focus of the meeting, is expected to make the greatest contributionto strengthening the development of the Asia-Pacific region.

APEC was established in 1989 as the highest-level, largest scale, and most influentialorganization in the Asia-Pacific region. As an official forum for economic cooperation, it has played a significant role in discussing issues about the regional and global economy. The 21members of the organization represent 40 percent of the world's population, 57 percent ofits economic aggregate, and 46% of its trade volume.

Its role is to promote commonprosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.The world economy currently faces many risks andchallenges. It is suffering from a slow recovery and a weak base. China's trade with othermembers in APEC reached a value of 2.5 trillion dollars in 2013.

According to IMF forecasts, China will contribute 27.8 percent of global economic growth in2014. China's sustainable and sound development will be a powerful engine for economicdevelopment in the Asia-Pacific region and further afield.

China has taken some of the highest-level measures to guarantee the air quality，food safety and traffic condition during the APEC meeting.

Beijing will increase the frequency of its high-speed trains to meet the demand of Beijing tourists during the APEC conference next week.

According to Beijing′s Municipal Railway Bureau, 14 trains will be added from Nov 6 to Nov 8 to help passengers travel between Beijing and Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hefei and Zaozhuang.

Residents in the capital will have a six-day holiday during the meeting, and they are encouraged by the government to travel outside the city.

Meanwhile, Beijing has adopted a stringent food-security policy during preparations for the upcoming APEC meeting by regulating raw food-material providers and suspending sales of healthcare products at some of the reception hotels.

For what’s more, it is expected that the pollutants discharge in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions will be reduced by 30-40 percent, and the air quality will hopefully be further improved. It is said that Beijing has since June shut down part of its power plants, eliminated old vehicles and boilers, used clean energy, closed more than 300 polluting factories, and upgraded technologies to cut emissions.