APEC CEO Summit to be Held in Gyeongju in Late October
Global corporate and international organization leaders, including Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, will attend the CEO Summit held in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Gyeongju at the end of October this year.
According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), which is in charge of the “APEC CEO Summit 2025” secretariat, Fraser will visit Korea along with 6-7 CEOs from financial companies based on Wall Street in New York. Top executives from major domestic and international companies, including senior executives from Meta and Microsoft (MS), will also attend the event, which will run for four days from Oct. 28. As of July 6, 425 foreign business leaders have confirmed their participation. Considering that there are about 110 days left until the main event, the number of registrants is expected to continue to increase. The KCCI predicted that about 1,700 people, including about 700 CEO-level executives, would visit Gyeongju, but if national leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping confirm their attendance at the APEC Summit, the number of participating business leaders could surge. There is also a possibility that Big Tech leaders such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang may flock to the event. Lee Sung-woo, head of the KCCI’s CEO Summit Promotion Headquarters, predicted, “If both U.S. and Chinese leaders attend the APEC Summit, the number of CEOs could increase by 200-300 more than expected.”
The APEC CEO Summit 2025 will kick off with a dinner at Hwarang Village in Gyeongju on Oct. 28. The following day, Oct. 29, SK Group Chairman and KCCI Chairman Chey Tae-won will give a welcome speech as the chair of the CEO Summit, followed by a special address by a high-level figure and a keynote speech on “Global Economic Issues and Challenges.” Until the last day, speeches and discussions by experts and business leaders will be held in rapid succession for each session.
The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), chaired by HS Hyosung Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang, has previously organized this year’s working groups into five areas: regional economic integration, sustainability, AI and digital, finance and investment, and bio and healthcare. They have been holding relay meetings in Australia (February), Canada (April), and Vietnam (July) to derive action items for the final meeting to be held in Gyeongju. For example, they are discussing ways to expand clean energy to respond to the rapid increase in data center power consumption due to AI proliferation, reconsideration of introducing a digital tax (taxation in the country where revenue is generated) that could hinder AI industry cooperation, and regulatory improvements to promote smart health. An industry insider said, “The joint tasks created by global business leaders have a significant impact on actual policymaking in each country.”
The main sessions of the CEO Summit are also composed of the working groups’ key agenda items. On Oct. 29, the topics will be regional economic integration, digital transformation, e-commerce, data center regulations and taxation, and digital healthcare. On Oct. 30, sovereign AI and future vehicles, semiconductors, global supply chains, and future currencies will be discussed. On Oct. 31, clean energy and carbon neutrality will be addressed.
Participating business leaders are expected to speak with one voice on issues such as regulatory improvements through sessions, while also engaging in numerous official and unofficial meetings with national leaders and CEOs. Lee, the headquarters chief, said, “Even in past summits, investment agreements worth billions of dollars were signed,” adding, “Beyond simple networking between policymakers and CEOs from each country, concrete partnerships can be formed.”
As Gyeongju is set to become a meeting place for world-class leaders this October, providing accommodations and meals for participants has emerged as a major challenge. The KCCI is preparing separate measures for business participants. In addition to the accommodations provided by North Gyeongsang Province and Gyeongju City, two cruise ships will be anchored off the coast of Pohang -- a Hong Kong cruise ship with 850 rooms and a domestic cruise ship with 250 rooms. Also, as CEO-level participants often demand high-end facilities, 900 rooms have been secured at the Ananti Resort in Busan.
To compensate for the lack of Western restaurants in Gyeongju, a system will be established to cook meals at large resort catering facilities and deliver them to each accommodation. KB Financial Group has agreed to support 60 food trucks during the event period.
One concern is that the infrastructure construction schedule, including the APEC Media Center (40% complete) and banquet halls, as well as major hotel renovations, is set for September. This tight schedule makes the project vulnerable to various factors that could halt construction, and also limits rehearsal time.
Meanwhile, KOTRA announced that President Kang Kyung-sung visited Gyeongju with the APEC Promotion Task Force for on-site inspection. Kang said, “We will contribute to revitalizing the local economy and promoting trade and investment based on APEC-linked events.”