By Lee Kap-soo

Dear readers of Diplomacy Journal,

I am very pleased to convey best wishes for the year 2024 to Diplomacy Journal magazine and its distinguished readers. This will constitute a very special year for Peru for two main reasons. 

Firstly, we will chair the APEC forum which constitutes a unique space for coordination and economic and technical cooperation in which twenty-one developed and developing economies converge to promote the continuous advancement on trade and investment in the Asia Pacific and to configure the most important mechanism for economic cooperation in our region. 

Along with these historical objectives new topics have been advancing under the Putrajaya vision to 2040, as the creation of reliable value chains, innovation and digitalization projects, and measures to support environmental challenges such as climate change and renewable energy, among others.

Peru will be in charge of the substantive and logistical coordination processes, organizing more than 160 meetings of various related sectors. We look forward to the presence of President Yoon Suk-yeol in November of next year in the Leaders´ Summit in Lima, an occasion in which Korea will assume the APEC Presidency in 2025. 

In the attached photo you could appreciate the beautiful cities of Lima, Arequipa, Urubamba, Pucallpa and Trujillo that have been designated as the headquarters of the referred meetings.

It is also important to mention that next year APEC will be celebrating its 35th anniversary so Peru will try to generate innovative ideas to bring this forum closer to civil society and to offer them a greater participation in the economic benefits and the sustainable growth of the region, including a sound participation in the fourth industrial revolution.

A second transcendental aspect for my country will be the commemoration of 200 years of the consolidation of the independence of Peru, and therefore of Latin America. We are planning numerous events and commemorative acts to celebrate this special occasion and to remember all those who contributed to founding our national ties and values.

It will be also a moment of reflection about the joint effort that forged our identity and common links through historical memory but, above all, in order to formulate a shared and effective vision towards the third century of our republican life.