From Connectivity to Collective Action: What Can APEC Deliver in Shenzhen and Beyond?

Name: From Connectivity to Collective Action: What Can APEC Deliver in Shenzhen and Beyond? — New York Southeast Asia Network
Start: 2026-11-03T20:30:00-0500
End: 2026-11-03T22:30:00-0500
Location: ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute – Seminar Room 2

Tuesday, November 3, 2026
8:30 PM 10:30 PM

ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute – Seminar Room 2 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore, 119614 Singapore (map)

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Organizer: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute

Type/Location: Hybrid / Singapore

Description:

As APEC leaders prepare to meet in Shenzhen, the Asia-Pacific faces an increasingly challenging economic environment marked by growing protectionism, geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruptions and rapid technological change. Against this backdrop, China’s APEC 2026 priorities of openness, innovation and cooperation offer an important opportunity to strengthen regional economic integration and practical cooperation.

This seminar will bring together representatives from government, business and the APEC community to discuss the expected outcomes of the Shenzhen summit and their implications for the wider Asia-Pacific. The discussion will examine how APEC can advance connectivity, trade and investment, supply-chain resilience, digital transformation and inclusive growth. Looking beyond the 2026 Leaders’ Meeting, the seminar will also consider a broader question: how can APEC translate high-level commitments into meaningful collective action and remain relevant in an increasingly fragmented global economy?

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About the Speakers:

Eduardo Pedrosa is the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat. His appointment was formally welcomed at the 35th APEC Ministerial Meeting in Lima, Peru on 14 November 2024. Prior to his appointment at APEC, he was the Secretary General of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), one of the three official observers of APEC. Eduardo is an expert on regional economic cooperation working on diverse range of issues including trade, finance, digitalization, climate change and structural reform. Over the past 20 years, he has consulted for governments and businesses across the Asia-Pacific. He was the coordinator of PECC’s State of the Region report which provides an independent assessment of the prospects and risks to regional economic as well as priorities for APEC. Eduardo is a thought leader on economic affairs and has authored and edited numerous publications, including Trade and Connectivity in the Post-COVID-19 World (with Pascal Lamy, World Economic Forum, 2020); Globalization, Inequality and the Rise of Protectionism (Duke University, 2015).

Kok Ping Soon is the Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF). SBF represents more than 34,000 companies, as well as key local and foreign business chambers. Prior to his current appointment, Ping Soon was Chief Executive of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), the lead agency driving Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative and public sector digital transformation. He also held various positions in the Ministry of Manpower, National Security Co-ordination Secretariat, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Singapore Tourism Board, Contact Singapore (CS), and Economic Development Board (EDB). He spent six years in the United States working for CS and EDB. He serves on the Board of SBF Holdings, SBF Connect, Singapore Business Federation Foundation, Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, Global Compact Network Singapore, Singapore Pools and The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

Shiumei Lin is the Vice President for Corporate Affairs overseeing UPS Government Affairs, Sustainability, Community Relations, and Strategic Communications in the Asia Pacific Region. A public policy practitioner with more than 25 years of experience, Shiumei leads a team of professionals managing advocacy, political risk and issues management, communications, stakeholder engagement, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. As the region recovered from the economic losses and supply chains underwent transformative shifts, Shiumei led efforts at the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to ensure we learn from the lessons of the pandemic focusing on what governments and businesses need for future supply chain resilience. Today, she supports UPS and its customers navigate the new world order and disruption to the global trading system. Prior to joining UPS in 2010, Shiumei worked at the Singapore Ministry of Trade & Industry working on APEC and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Shiumei currently serves on the boards of the National Center for APEC; the Conference of the Asia Pacific Express Carriers (CAPEC); and the American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore.

Alex Parle (moderator) is the Executive Vice President of National Center for APEC. He joined the National Center for APEC as Program Manager in July 2003 and held several policy and program roles before being named Executive Vice President in 2013. In his current role he oversees NCAPEC’s policy advocacy work and its engagement in the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. He is also responsible for NCAPEC’s external relations, including with governments and business organizations across APEC economies. In 2025, Alex led the establishment of the NCAPEC Foundation and serves as its chair. During the U.S. host years for APEC in 2011 and 2023, he served one-year terms as Executive Director of the APEC Business Advisory Council, a body comprising three senior executives from each APEC member economy.