The 8th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting (HRDMM) was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on Sept. 21. Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security of China, chaired the meeting. Xin Changxing, Secretary of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CPC, delivered a welcome address. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, delivered remarks via video link. Ambassador Chen Xu, Chair of the 2026 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, Eduardo Pedrosa, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, and representatives from APEC member economies' human resources development departments, the APEC Secretariat and relevant international organizations attended the meeting.
The HRDMM is one of the key ministerial meetings under the APEC framework. The theme of this year's meeting was "Modernizing Human Resources Development for a Stronger Asia-Pacific Community." Participants held in-depth exchanges on the latest policy practices and typical cases of their respective economies under three topics: Promoting High-quality and Full Employment and Employment-Friendly Economic Development; Investing in People and Enhancing Vocational Skills Training; and Strengthening and Optimizing Social Security Systems for Efficiency, Adaptability and Accountability. Consensus was reached on cooperating to address new challenges in human resources development, injecting new momentum into advancing cooperation among APEC economies on development and utilization of human resources and building an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community.
The meeting adopted the Joint Statement of the 8th APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting (Nanjing Statement). Participants unanimously agreed to work together to modernize human resources development and contribute to building a stronger Asia-Pacific community, providing guidance for future cooperation in APEC human resources development. As the outcome of the 8th HRDMM, the statement makes important contribution to the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to be held in Shenzhen in November.