MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lima ready for key APEC Leaders' Week

APEC Leaders' Week will also mark the opening of the Chancay Megaport, which is expected to revolutionize South America's Pacific trade

The city of Lima, the capital of Peru, will be turned upside down this week, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit starting Monday, which will be attended by Presidents Joseph Biden of the United States and Xi Jinping from China among other dignitaries from 21 countries, particularly between Nov. 14 and 16, which have been declared as non-working days.

Civil servants are expected to perform remote work and students will have online classes starting between Nov. 11 and 13 already, and a wide exclusion zone has been implemented around the Lima Convention Center as well as in other areas needed for the circulation of visiting motorcades.

In this scenario, the football World Cup qualifying match between Peru and Chile originally to be played at the National Stadium has been relocated to the Club Universitario stadium, citing security issues.

The APEC forum was created in 1989, bringing together 21 economies of the Pacific region. Some 5,000 delegates are expected to attend the convention, in addition to around 1,300 businessmen and 2,500 journalists.

The Convention will also mark the opening of the Chancay Megaport 80 kilometers from Lima with a capacity to handle one million containers annually, which will offer a significant reduction in shipping time between Peru and China, in addition to challenging foreign trade in the entire region, ports in Chile as the main possible losers of this China-funded investment.

APEC Leaders' Week is presented as a vital opportunity for dialogue and cooperation, in a global context that demands joint responses to current economic and social challenges, the Peruvian Government highlighted.

Among those world leaders who have already confirmed their participation are China's President Xi Jinping, US President Joseph Biden, Vietnam's President To Lam, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol, Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.