The Third APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM3) kicked-off on 16 August 2022 in Chiang Mai with expert-level meetings of various APEC sub-fora. These sub-fora meetings form an important basis for further discussions at APEC Senior officials, ministers and leaders’ levels and play a vital role in driving APEC 2022’s priorities towards open trade and investment, seamless connectivity and balanced growth, under the “Open. Connect. Balance.” theme.

APEC sub-fora meetings during SOM3 will cover a wide range of important issues under 28 APEC sub-fora, including promoting more open trade and investment through cooperation in areas of custom procedures, intellectual property, anti-corruption and transparency; enhancing connectivity such as tourism, health, emergency preparedness and digital economy; and supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth such as women’s economic empowerment, food security, sustainable fisheries as well as science, technology and innovation, which is key to achieving growth that is economically viable and environmentally sound.

In addition to serving as the host economy of APEC 2022, Thailand also chairs 7 APEC sub-fora this year. These include the Digital Economy Steering Group (DESG), Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP), Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS), Health Working Group (HWG), Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Working Group (ACTWG) and Competition Policy and Law Group (CPLG). On-going discussions in APEC’s diverse sub-fora support the host year’s priorities and demonstrates the relevance of the concept of the BCG economy model, an overarching theme of APEC 2022, in a wide variety of areas.

For example, the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) will discuss the outcome of the APEC Customs Business Dialogue on “Customs and Green Economy: Enhancing Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability” presented by Thailand. The Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) will also discuss the outcome of the Conference on “BCG for APEC MSMEs - Challenges and Ways Forward” which is a project initiated by Thailand. As part of the Health Working Group (HWG), Thailand will host a policy dialogue on Smart Families, aimed at developing holistic policy options that enable women’s economic empowerment and reproductive choice.

APEC sub-fora, including sub-committees, experts' groups and working groups, are important mechanisms that carry out APEC’s work in specific sectors. They contribute to APEC’s unique position as the premier regional economic forum as well as an incubator of ideas by providing strategic policy recommendations to APEC member economies to create greater prosperity for the people of the region.