Top business leaders from around the Pacific Rim gathered at Bell Harbor International Conference center in Seattle for the APEC China CEO Forum 2014, an initiative of the Beijing-based APEC China Business Council, produced this year in partnership with the National Center for APEC.

To promote business and economic communications between Chinese business leaders, officials, and other stakeholders in China and the Asia-Pacific region, this year's forum on Friday engaged 250 private sector delegates from around the APEC region, including APEC Business Advisory Council members from all 21 APEC Economies and a delegation of executives from China's newly established APEC China Business Council.

Delegates participated in a high-level dialogue on a range of issues facing the APEC Economies during China's year as the 2014 APEC Chair, as Regional Perspectives on China's Development.

The forum also addressed topics of special interest during China's chairmanship, such as the Third Plenum reform agenda and China as a global investor.

The objective of the forum is to create opportunities for strategic discussions to further the understanding of doing business in and with China, as well as China's perspective on doing business with APEC Economies. All the dialogues and discussions will produce recommendations for the APEC summit meeting in Beijing, China, in November with all Pacific Rim leaders participating.

China will host the Third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM3) and Related Meetings of APEC 2014 from Aug 6 to 21 in Beijing.

About 100 sessions of meeting will be held during the time, including the Senior Officials' Meeting from Aug 20 to 21, with meetings of APEC committees, sub-committees and working groups arranged ahead. The meetings will cover a broad range of areas including Trade and Investment, Standards and Conformance, Customs Procedures, Connectivity, Agriculture and Food, Forestry, Electronic Commerce, Anti-corruption, Disaster Management and Health.

(China Daily USA 07/18/2014 page9)