President Park Geun-hye attended the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) during her visit to Beijing for the 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. President Park engaged in an in-depth discussion with a small group involving U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and business people from across the Asia-Pacific region. They exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues, including plans to foster small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), investment and cooperation on food and energy security. 

When asked by Taiwanese representative Matthew Miau, chairman of Taiwan’s MiTAC-Synnex Group, about Korea’s policies to support SMEs, President Park explained that the Korean government has been making efforts to help SMEs with innovation and related technologies, helping them to avoid difficulties associated with finances and management. To this aim, Park said the Korean government has been creating a "virtuous circle" ecosystem for venture start-ups by establishing a new method of valuing technology and ideas and providing early support funds. She added that Korea has been continuing with its regulatory reforms and is actively supporting SMEs that enter new markets overseas. 

During the meeting, Katherine Rich, CEO of the New Zealand Food & Grocery Council, asked President Park about measures to promote investment and cooperation in the private food and energy sectors. In response, the president emphasized the importance of raising agricultural productivity by using IT and other high-end technologies and the importance of actively investing in the private sector in this regard. 

In order to secure food and energy security, the president said that there needs to be various types of cooperation among countries and regions. She also mentioned the need for international cooperation on stabilizing the food supply and the need for joint responses to climate change in regard to energy security.