Binding ties beyond business as usual for bright minds

As a record number of participants converge in Singapore this week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, a "mini APEC" of sorts is brewing on the sidelines of the top-level meetings.

Chinese student Gao Weihua is a youth delegate of APEC's Voices of the Future (VOF), a weeklong networking program for more than 100 bright minds aged 18 to 25, who hail from 18 of the grouping's 21 members. The program allows the delegates get up close with leaders from business and other sectors attending the forum.

The VOF program is one of the many events complementing the main APEC forum, which is into its 20th year and where leaders from the Asia-Pacific focus on ways to boost trade and investment in the region.