[SAN FRANCISCO] Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is making a working visit to San Francisco this week to attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.

He will be in the Californian city from Monday (Nov 13) until Saturday, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

At the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting, the grouping’s leaders are expected to “discuss ways to strengthen trade, increase supply chain resilience, tackle climate change and ensure an equitable and inclusive future” under the theme “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All”.

PM Lee will also hold bilateral meetings with other Apec leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

Apec’s 21 member economies are Australia; Brunei; Canada; Chile; China; Hong Kong; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Philippines; Russia; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Thailand; the US; and Vietnam.

Collectively, the group represents 40 per cent of the world’s population, about 60 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product and nearly half of global trade.

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Ahead of the summit, PM Lee will meet California governor Gavin Newsom and business leaders from prominent US companies, including Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

PM Lee will also launch Enterprise Singapore’s new overseas centre in San Francisco and meet Singaporeans living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He will be accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and senior officials from PMO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

While PM Lee is away, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be the acting prime minister.

At an event last month, Wong said Singapore is hoping for substantial progress in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) discussions in time for the Apec summit.

While the summit is a forum mainly for economic discussions, observers say a key question this year is whether Biden would be able to rally all 21 members towards a consensus amid rising global geopolitical tensions.

A Reuters report last week noted that IPEF negotiations are ongoing, with announcements expected on cooperation to accelerate the clean energy transition and to fight corruption and tax evasion. The first of the framework’s four pillars, on strengthening supply chains, was completed earlier this year.

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on a highly anticipated bilateral meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday. The last time Xi travelled to the US was in 2017 when he met with then president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

This will be the first time Biden and Xi are coming together face-to-face since they last met in Bali on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) conference. Relations between the world’s two largest economies thawed following the meeting but took a turn for the worse after US authorities shot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this year.