LIMA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, to be held here next week, will connect Peru with the world's most important markets, Carlos Galvez, a Peruvian industrial leader, said on Saturday.
Heads of the world's leading economies are expected to attend the Nov. 19-20 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Galvez, president of the National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy, highlighted the fact that more than 1,200 business leaders from APEC's 21 member economies will also be attending the event, which includes a parallel business forum called the CEO Summit.
"APEC's CEO Summit is very important. It is fundamental because it connects us to the world, (and) it connects us to the most important markets that we can access," Galvez told Xinhua.
By bringing business leaders from China, Russia, the United States and other APEC economies to Peru, where they will meet with their Peruvian counterparts, the event will help promote trade and investment, said Galvez.
"In addition, it will lead to opportunities to attract investment from other parts" outside APEC, he said.
Galvez said he was confident of the global tendency toward more open markets and greater exchanges of goods and capital, despite Brexit and other signs of a backlash against globalization.
"Opening up to the world, increasing production, generating decent employment opportunities with increasingly better wages and full labor rights are what we need to be aiming for," he said.
One of the much anticipated figures attending the CEO Summit is Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
His arrival "is precisely a sign of the interest they have in making our economies grow faster," Galvez said.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is also expected to attend the summit, according to organizers.
Emerging economies such as Peru need to take advantage of this opportunity to learn from other APEC members on how to spur development, said Galvez, noting education has been a key factor in Asian countries' development.
"We have said many times that what we have to do is to work a lot on education, to make a decisive change that will allow us to enter the era of knowledge," said Galvez.
"Information and communication technology is what can move us up to the level of the countries that today lead in this field," he added.
APEC represents a potential market of billions of consumers, including the Chinese market of 1.3 billion people, the industrial leader said.
Peruvian Second Vice President Mercedes Araoz said earlier this week that her country's relationship with China is a "priority," noting that bilateral cooperation is crucial to strengthening relations and boosting economic growth.
