NEW DELHI, Nov. 11 -- Chinese ambassador to India Le Yucheng published an article at an Indian newspaper Tuesday, highlighting the significance of the on-going Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing.

"APEC is the largest, highest-ranking and most influential economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region. It is of great strategic significance in the world with 21 members, 40 percent of the world's population, 57 percent of the total world economy and 46 percent of the total global trade," the Indian Express excerpted Le's speech at a roundtable discussion on APEC in New Delhi.

He said that never before had the cooperation in Asia-Pacific been so full of hope and opportunities and never before have we had to deal with so many risks and challenges.

This year's APEC meeting is focused on advancing regional economic integration, including promoting Asia-Pacific free trade area, supporting the multilateral trading system, advancing cooperation on global value chains and supply chains and strengthening capacity-building in trade and investment, said the ambassador.

He said promoting innovative development, economic reform and growth is another focus of the meeting, with the objective being to promote pragmatic cooperation around "the five pillars" of economic reform, new economy, innovative growth, inclusive support and urbanization.

Strengthening comprehensive connectivity and infrastructure development is the third focus of the meeting, with physical or hard connectivity, institutional or soft connectivity and people- to-people connectivity making up the whole system, he said.

"Asia-Pacific is the region where our home is. As a member of the Asia-Pacific big family, China sees the prosperity of the entire region as the foundation of its own well-being," said the ambassador.