The week-long APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting ended at Yanqi Lake on Tuesday with the leaders of the 21 APEC member economies issuing the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Declaration – Beijing Agenda for an Integrated, Innovative and Interconnected Asia-Pacific.

Yanqi Lake lies at the foot of Yan Mountain in the Huairou District, some 60 kilometres north of Central Beijing.

The declaration was accompanied by four annexes: the Beijing Roadmap for APEC’s Contribution to the realisation of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), APEC Strategic Blueprint for Promoting Global Value Chain Development and Cooperation, APEC Accord on Innovative Development, Economic Reform and Growth and lastly the APEC Connectivity Blueprint for 2015-2025.

It outlines new far-reaching measures for advancing regional economic integration as well as promoting innovative development, growth and economic reform and strengthening comprehensive connectivity and infrastructure development, with a view of expanding and deepening regional economic cooperation, as well as achieving stability, peace, development and common prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.

Ministers and senior officials from 21 APEC member economies have been meeting in Beijing since last week to take forward a series of new measures to reinvigorate trade, productivity and sustainable development, intent on delivering the next generation of Asia-Pacific growth needed to boost prosperity across the region and ensure global economic recovery.

The leaders of the various countries only joined the meeting on Monday and Tuesday to endorse what the ministers and senior officials had proposed.

The 2014 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, which was hosted by China and chaired by President Xi Jinping, commenced on Wednesday 5 November under the theme “Shaping the Future Through Asia-Pacific Partnership” and it coincided with the 25th anniversary of APEC’s founding.

On Sunday, President Xi Jinping offered the Asia-Pacific region a vision of a Chinese-driven “Asia-Pacific dream”. Speaking at the China National Convention Centre on Sunday morning, Xi said, “We have the responsibility to create and realise an Asia-Pacific dream for the people of the region.”

During this year’s APEC, the main focus was deepening regional economic integration, promoting economic reform and innovative development, and building infrastructure investment and comprehensive connectivity.

With the current, global economic recovery still facing many unstable and uncertain factors, Xi said that they should promote regional economic integration further and create a pattern of opening up that is very conducive to long-term development. Xi said, “We should vigorously promote the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Zone, setting the goal, direction and roadmap and turn the vision into reality as soon as possible.”

Xi urged members to fast-track talks on a trade liberalisation framework called the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) that is being driven by Beijing to be realised sooner. However, APEC had approved work towards the establishment of FTAAP, which, according to Xi, was a “historic step”.

Injecting energy towards the APEC goal of an FTAAP, a comprehensive free trade agreement to build on emerging regional undertakings such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, is among the priorities.

Guided by President Xi, leaders assembled for the 22nd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting on 10 and 11 November to chart the roadmap for achieving an FTAAP.

APEC currently has 21 members, including most countries with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean. However, the criterion for membership is that the member is a separate economy, rather than a state. As a result, APEC uses the term member economies rather than member countries to refer to its members. One result of this criterion is that membership to the forum includes Taiwan (officially the Republic of China, participating under the name “Chinese Taipei”) alongside People’s Republic of China, as well as Hong Kong, which entered APEC as a British colony but it is now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. APEC also includes three official observers: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council.

The Philippines will chair APEC in 2015 and host the 23rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.