APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting was held at Incheon under the theme of "Sustainable Growth and Shared Prosperity in the Region" from October 21-23, 2025. The meeting concluded with the issuance of a Joint Statement by the finance ministers and the adoption of a new strategic roadmap. Ministers reaffirmed commitment to building an "open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040". They welcomed the conclusion of the previous "Cebu Action Plan" of 2015, and launched the "Incheon Plan" to succeed it. The Incheon Plan is structured around four key pillars, Innovation, Finance, Fiscal policy and Access and Opportunity for All. (PHOTO: The Ministry of Economy and Finance)
Finance Ministers’ Meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), hosted by Korea, was held at Incheon from October 21-23, 2025. The theme of the 2025 Finance Ministers’ Process (FMP) was stated as “Sustainable Growth and Shared Prosperity in the Region”, aligned with the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040.
The 2025 APEC was a significant event that not only addressed immediate economic challenges but also set a new strategic direction for financial cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting was chaired by Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Koo Yun-cheol.
2025 FMM was held in a linked format with the Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting (SRMM) for the first time in APEC history. This integrated approach underscored the growing recognition that financial and structural policies must be coordinated to achieve sustainable growth, especially in the era of digital transformation.
The FMM component of the meeting generally began with an opening session and was structured around specific, focused discussions, including global and regional economic and financial outlook, digital finance, and fiscal policy. These are an assessment of the current economic environment, including persistent downside risks from policy uncertainty and global debt challenges; discussions on leveraging technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance financial services, efficiency, and inclusion; and focusing on responsible and prudent fiscal policies, public spending quality, and strengthening fiscal resilience.
Also, joint session of FMM and SRMM was held. A dedicated joint session was held between the finance ministers and the structural reform ministers under the theme of “Innovation and Digitalization.” This session focused on how structural reforms can drive innovation and build a trusted digital ecosystem.
The meeting included a joint working luncheon with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to strengthen cooperation and gather private sector input on policy directions, as engagement with private sector.
The meeting concluded with the issuance of a Joint Statement by the finance ministers and the adoption of a new strategic roadmap. Ministers reaffirmed commitment to building an “open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040”. They welcomed the conclusion of the previous “Cebu Action Plan” of 2015, and launched the “Incheon Plan” to succeed it.
The Incheon Plan reflects our shared commitment to building a more connected, resilient and prosperous APEC community. It provides strategic direction for regional policy cooperation under the Finance Ministers’ Process (FMP) in four areas: promoting innovation, deepening financial resilience and efficiency, encouraging fiscal frame-works with transparency, and enhan-cing access and opportunity.
We acknowledge the implementation of the 2015 Cebu Action Plan (CAP), its 2021 mid-term review and the assessment conducted by the APEC Policy Support Unit (PSU). We reaffirm our commitment to achieving the Putrajaya Vision 2040, by implementing the Aotearoa Plan of Action 2021, consistent with members’ own domestic contexts and current policy priorities. We underscore that regional cooperation through policy dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity-building is essential to fulfilling APEC’s vision of shared prosperity. We have adopted a new FMP roadmap structured around four pillars: Innovation, Finance, Fiscal Policy, and Access and Opportunity for All.
The Incheon Plan is structured around four key pillars, Innovation, Finance (i.e., financial system resilience, access, digital finance), Fiscal policy (including fiscal sustainability, public investment, debt transparency), and Access and Opportunity for All (inclusive growth, economic participation).
Major policy focus areas covered in the joint statement are flexible and credible macro-economic policy frameworks as global and regional economy & macro-fiscal outlook, future growth as innovation & digitalisation, recognition of digital finance and emphasis on fiscal sustainability.
Ministers noted that while the economy shows resilience, uncertainty remains (geoeconomic tensions, high debt, policy uncertainty).
They emphasised flexible and credible macro-economic policy frame-works, effective public spen-ding, and the importance of supply-chain resilience.
Innovation & digitalization is a key driver of future growth. They emphasised collaboration among government, private sector and stakeholders to foster innovation and scale-ups, and specifically highlighted the role of artificial intelligence(AI).
Recognized that digital financial innovation and digital access are critical for economic growth and inclusion, while noting that risks (financial stability, consumer protec-tion) must be managed.
Emphasis on fiscal sustainability amid pressures such as ageing demographics, natural disasters, public debt. They stressed public-private partnerships (PPPs), risk management for disaster finance, transparent budgeting.
The 2025 FMM produced several important outcomes that will guide APEC’s financial agenda over the coming years:
The most significant result was the adoption and launch of the Incheon Plan, which serves as the new multi-year roadmap for the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process, succeeding the ten-year Cebu Action Plan (which concluded in 2025).
The Incheon Plan provides strategic direction under four core pillars;
Innovation: Fostering an environ-ment that promotes the adoption and widespread use of technologies like AI to enhance productivity.
Finance: Deepening financial market resilience, efficiency, and stability.
Fiscal Policy: Strengthening fiscal frameworks and transparency to sustain long-term growth.
They emphasized the access and apportunity for all. Broadening the scope of financial inclusion to ensure that vulnerable groups, including MSMEs, women, and remote communities, benefit from economic progress.
APEC ministers emphasized the need to maintain flexible and credible macroeconomic policies in the face of ongoing economic uncertainty, underscore the importance of enhancing the effectiveness and quality of public spending and implementing appropriately calibrated fiscal policy, and reiterate the need to effectively address debt vulnerabilities, including through improved debt transparency.
The ministers made a clear commitment to fostering an innovation-friendly environment and supporting the private sector to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital transformations for economic growth and productivity.
Through the joint sessions, the participants committed to a new five-year roadmap for structural reform, the Strengthened and Enhanced APEC Agenda for Structural Reform (SEAASR) 2026–2030, which integrates with the financial agenda to tackle regulatory barriers and enhance connectivity.
Primary goal of SEAASR 2026–2030 is to address and remove persistent structural barriers (such as regulatory misalignment and uneven connectivity) to foster stronger international regulatory cooperation, promote sustainable economic growth, and enable market connectivity, competitiveness, and prosperity across the Asia-Pacific.
The SEAASR is structured around four strategic pillars that focus on driving economic growth, enhancing well-being, and building a more resilient business environment, in line with the overarching APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040.
It emphasized enabling fair, market-oriented competition, as promoting effective competition policies, address barriers to entry, and ensure a level playing field across all sectors, including services. Enabling environment for doing business by simplifying regulations and streamline processes to make it easier, faster, and cheaper for businesses to operate. This includes a commitment to the Fourth APEC Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Action Plan (2025-2035) to achieve a 20% improvement in priority areas.
Promoting innovation and digitalization implements structural reforms to accelerate the adoption of new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), by easing regulatory hurdles, fostering talent development, and strengthening digital infrastructure.
Also, empowering all to achieve their economic potential for sustainable economic growth. Ensure growth is inclusive by removing structural barriers that limit full participation. This targets enhancing economic opportunities for vulnerable groups, including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), women, youth, and older workers, and strengthening social safety nets.
APEC economies are invited to submit their own Individual Action Plans by mid-2026, outlining their domestic structural reform initiatives through 2030 based on the four SEAASR pillars.
The SEAASR emphasizes enhancing the implementation and review process, promoting capacity building, and strengthening outreach, with better monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to capture the impact of reforms. A formal mid-term review of the SEAASR will be conducted in 2028 to assess progress and adjust future reform actions.
The SEAASR is closely linked with the Incheon Plan, highlighting the integrated approach needed between financial and structural policies to tackle modern challenges like digital transformation and demographic shifts.
Overall, the 2025 APEC FMM successfully transitioned the FMP to a new strategic roadmap, setting a strong regional policy focus on digital innovation, fiscal sustainability, and inclusive growth for the next five years.★
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