The 5th APEC Ministerial Meeting on Oceans will be held in Busan from the 30th of this month to the 1st of next month. This is the first time in 23 years that the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Oceans is being held in Korea since the 1st APEC Ministerial Meeting on Oceans (Seoul) in 2002.
According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 29th, the 5th APEC Ministerial Meeting on Oceans is the first sectoral ministerial meeting held to mark Korea's chairmanship of the 2025 APEC summit.
About 150 high-level officials, including Maria Antonia Yulo-Loiaza, Minister of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines, and Zelta Wong, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Papua New Guinea, will attend the meeting.
The theme of this APEC meeting is "Navigating Toward Our Blue Future – Consolidation, Innovation, and Prosperity." Key agenda items for discussion at the meeting will include ▲ Enhancing ocean resilience ▲ Preserving the marine environment ▲ Eradicating illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing ▲ Sustainable fishing and aquaculture.
At this meeting, Korea plans to propose establishing a roadmap for enhancing APEC ocean resilience and revitalizing the APEC Marine Environment Education Training Center (AMETEC).
The 5th APEC Ministerial Meeting on Oceans will be held consecutively following the 10th Our Ocean Conference (OOC). The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries expressed hope that "by reflecting the collaborative achievements of the 10th OOC in APEC discussions, more effective global marine cooperation discussions will be possible."
Minister Gang Do-hyung said, "This meeting will consolidate the discussions on marine and fisheries matters that have taken place within APEC and will serve as a venue to present the direction of future marine cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region."