Haikou City, Hainan Province, south China - Sept 15, 2026 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of guests speaking at Boao Forum for Asia Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation Roundtable, other attendees
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Mu Hong, vice chairman, Boao Forum for Asia:
"We need to uphold genuine multilateralism and open regionalism to further advance Asia-Pacific economic integration."
3. Various of meeting in progress
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, former executive director, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat (ending with shot 5):
"FTAAP is not your traditional trade agreement, so it's not about a trade agreement, but it is about deepening economic integration. What you do is because of all kinds of diversity among our own economies, we need to break it down and see what can be done first and do it. So go by sectors, go by different parts of the agreement."
5. Various of meeting in progress
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Findlay, honorary professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University:
"The question about FTAAP is not which agreement is the pathway, it's more about what are the immediate tasks, which institution is good for doing which task, and how do they get done."

FILE: Hainan Province, south China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Containers being moved at port
8. Aerial shots of port scene, vessels loaded with containers

FILE: Haikou City, Hainan Province, south China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Aerial shots of cityscape

Officials and scholars at the Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation Roundtable hosted by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in south China's Haikou City in Hainan Province called on Tuesday for upholding multilateralism and promoting economic integration amid rising global uncertainty.

Themed "Toward an Asia-Pacific Community: Vision and Action," the event brought together government officials, business representatives and academics from more than 30 countries, with discussions focusing on AI cooperation, supply chain integration and broader regional economic cooperation.

"We need to uphold genuine multilateralism and open regionalism to further advance Asia-Pacific economic integration," said Mu Hong, vice chairman of the BFA, in his keynote speech.

One of the key topics widely discussed at the meeting was how to advance the vision of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), a proposed regional free trade framework aimed at bringing economies across the APEC region closer together.

"FTAAP is not your traditional trade agreement, so it's not about a trade agreement, but it is about deepening economic integration. What you do is because of all kinds of diversity among our own economies, we need to break it down and see what can be done first and do it. So go by sectors, go by different parts of the agreement," said Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, former executive director of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat.

"The question about FTAAP is not which agreement is the pathway, it's more about what are the immediate tasks, which institution is good for doing which task, and how do they get done," said Christopher Findlay, honorary professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy of the Australian National University.