Singapore hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings from February to November 2009. The APEC 2009 meetings will culminate in the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM), where Leaders of APEC's 21 member economies will meet from 14 to 15 November 2009.

The theme for 2009 is 'Sustaining Growth, Connecting the Region'. APEC Singapore 2009 will build on APEC’s work to date in promoting economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment across the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, given today’s challenging global economic environment, APEC Singapore 2009 is also focused on overcoming the economic crisis and positioning member economies for a sustainable recovery in the post-crisis world. The main areas for discussion during the year are: Positioning for Economic Recovery; Supporting Multilateral Trading Systems; and Accelerating Regional Economic Integration.

The APEC Singapore 2009 logo depicts the 21 APEC economies coming together to convene at a single point, working towards unity, cooperation and synergy among member economies to advance common interests. The Spark is made up of 21 strokes representing the 21 member economies. It signifies the dynamism within the APEC community, and a catalyst that inspires new ideas and initiatives to further the vision of APEC.

Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.

Jack Ma (simplified Chinese: 马云; traditional Chinese: 馬雲; pinyin: Mǎ Yún; born September 10, 1964) is the founder, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, he is formally an English teacher at Hangzhou Teachers College.

Ma was born in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Ma attended Hangzhou Teachers College and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in English. Ma initially failed the entrance exam twice. While at the school, Ma was elected student chairman. He later became a lecturer in English and International Trade at the Hangzhou Dianzi University. Ma first started building websites for Chinese companies with the help of friends in the US. Ma has commented that "The day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends and TV people over to my house," and on a very slow dial-up connection, "we waited three and a half hours and got half a page.... We drank, watched TV and played cards, waiting. But I was so proud. I proved (to my house guests that) the Internet existed"^{[original research?]}