[PRIMER] APEC 2023 Summit between November 11th-17th; Biden-Xi to meet on the sidelines

Analysis details (07:50)

APEC SUMMIT

OVERVIEW: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2023 is taking place between the 11th-17th November in San Francisco. The theme of the summit will be “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All.” From a market perspective, the highlight will be the Biden-Xi sidelines meeting pencilled in for November 15th, although no major breakthrough is expected (more below).

MEMBER ECONOMIES: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of America & Viêt Nam.

APEC CEO SUMMIT: As part of the broad APEC summit, CEOs from major firms will be partaking in fireside chats, with some reports noting a tech-heavy presence. CEOs from OpenAI, Salesforce (CRM), Tesla (TSLA), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Pfizer (PFE), Citi (C), ExxonMobil (XOM), Uber (UBER) are among those taking part. The full programme can be found here. “In addition to the APEC CEO Summit 2023 program, the APEC CEO Summit 2023 Exhibition will feature new innovations and cutting-edge technology demonstrations from leading global companies”.  

AGENDA:

• 
  11-12th November: Concluding Senior Officials Meeting.


• 
  13th November: Finance Ministers’ Meeting.


• 
  14-15th November: APEC Ministerial Meeting.


• 
  16th November: ABAC Dialogue with APEC Economic Leaders/ APEC Economic Leaders’ Informal.

US high-level meetings: 

• 
  12-13th November: US Treasury Secretary Yellen hosts her APEC counterparts, according to Bloomberg.


• 
  14-15th November: US Secretary of State Blinken and USTR Tai to host ministerial meetings.


• 
  N/A - Treasury officials to hold meetings of US-China economic and financial working groups.

BIDEN-XI:  

OVERVIEW: This would be the first time the leaders spoke since the G-20 Summit in Indonesia last November. President Xi’s agenda for the proposed meeting is unknown, but the Chinese leader is expected to talk up China’s advantages for US businesses.

PROGRESS: An Axios source reported last week that the US and Chinese presidents are preparing to announce the resumption of military-to-military communications this week. These channels were suspended last year after former House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, whilst US Secretary of State Blinken failed to re-establish them in June when he visited Beijing. Meanwhile, Bloomberg sources suggested that China is reportedly mulling ending its commercial freeze of Boeing (BA) with a commitment for 737 jetliners during the summit, although the terms are still under discussion and could change or fall apart before the Biden-Xi meeting on Wednesday.

SENTIMENT: Though no meaningful breakthrough in ties is expected, the tone of the engagement will be watched with the sides likely to release their own statements afterwards. A joint press conference/statement would be perceived as positive in terms of diplomatic relations, although this is not expected. On the flip side, if the sideline meeting ends up not taking place between the US and Chinese leaders, it could be perceived as unconstructive.

13 Nov 2023 - 07:50- EquitiesResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk