Stakeholder Engagement

SOM 1 Stakeholder Engagement Highlights

The First APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings (SOM 1) in Palm Springs, California, held between February 14 and February 28, engaged a range of external stakeholders from diverse sectors and public-private partnerships as we seek to make the 2023 U.S. APEC host year more interconnected, innovative, and inclusive. Collaborations with the United States government agencies and stakeholders helped SOM 1 to shape implementations on how APEC can benefit communities across the region and the country as we strive to generate resilient, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth. 

Interagency Coordination 

• Through interagency coordination, over 40 U.S. Government officials out of a total of more than 200 participants from 12 departments participated in SOM 1 as a moderator, speaker, presenter, and/or workshop organizer.   
• Expert and working-level APEC groups took field trips throughout California’s Inland Empire region, including the San Bernardino National Forest and Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains Visitor Center (USDA Climate Hubs), to see U.S. policies and best practices in action. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also hosted a Climate Side Event and Agriculture Host Year Kick-Off reception.  

External Stakeholders 

• Throughout SOM1, nearly 200 stakeholder organizations in civil society, business advocacy, academia and research, and private and nonprofit sectors as well as international organizations participated or delivered remarks in workshops and/or plenary sessions. 

• More than 100 private sector stakeholders, businesses, and industry advocacy groups attended SOM1 meetings. 

Special Engagements  

• Our partner, the National Center for APEC, and the U.S. business association for APEC, for co-hosting an iconic reception for SOM1 delegates that provided the opportunity to engage with Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ chambers in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership as well as local business lenders. 

• Additionally, we worked closely with a myriad of local stakeholders, including California State Government and City of Palm Springs. U.S. Senior Official for APEC, Matt Murray and the U.S. APEC Secretariat team met Grace Elena Garner, the first Latina mayor of Palm Springs to talk about how perfect Palm Springs was for SOM 1 as it is a crossroads of North America, South America, and East Asia — the key geographies of our APEC membership – and demonstrates America’s diversity and inclusion through tribal histories and communities. Accordingly, I had a chance to meet with representatives of the Cahuilla Indians at the Agua Caliente tribal government headquarters. 

• The EPIC Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programs at University of California, Riverside hosted APEC delegates participating in the Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) and discussed advancing inclusivity in science and innovation, indigenous knowledge, women in STEM, and public-private partnerships, key to achieving the US Host Year goal to create a resilient and sustainable future for all.