APEC Leaders Week is complete, and thanks to an extraordinary public-private partnership, it was big success. I am happy to have had the opportunity to help present Hawaii as the anchor for Asian-Pacific family of nations.

Honolulu is a great and beautiful city. Our gratitude goes to everyone from the APEC Host Committee and thousands of volunteers who worked together to host the 21 member economies and all APEC visitors. It was our moment to shine, and thanks to you we did — as a leader in hospitality, clean energy, higher education and a place to do business.

It is critical that we understand that APEC is our launching point for a long-term Asia Pacific and global strategy. For example, we are pushing for a 70 percent clean energy goal. We’re achieving great momentum, looking to make bold and progressive investments in renewable energy. But we will need international partnerships and capital to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Hawaii already has partnerships with the Japanese and Okinawan governments for smart grid and clean energy companies. Last week we conducted a bilateral workshop with China on clean energy industries.

Of course, Hawaii sets the standard in hospitality. Our fastest-growth potential in the Asia-Pacific region is in Korea and China. In conjunction with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, our administration is active at the federal level advocating easier access to visas for Chinese visitors.

More than 100,000 visitors from Korea and China are expected this year for the first time in our history. With proper encouragement and emphasis, this number could grow considerably. That’s why I went to China and met with U.S. embassy and consular officials and with the Chinese Ministry of Tourism to discuss actions we can take to spur China-Hawaii tourism.

When Hawaii bid for the APEC meeting, some in Washington questioned whether we could do it. Now Hawaii has emphatically demonstrated that it is a world-class host for events involving multiple high-level government, international organization and business leaders. We will seek more opportunities like this on the basis of this acknowledged positive record.

In higher education and advanced research, we have remarkable assets, especially the University of Hawaii system, outstanding private universities, the East-West Center and the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.

UH President M.R.C. Greenwood and I visited the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, being built as a new worldwide standard for research. We are currently discussing partnerships between the institute and the University of Hawaii.

Educational, research and other professional services are among our primary exports. Such service "exports" are not only compatible with a sustainable environment, but build lasting good will and business relationships. They also enhance the value of in-state education for our own citizens as a result of the international contacts they make in their university years.

In the coming weeks, I will work with members of the APEC Host Committee, the congressional delegation and the state Legislature to develop a long-term strategy for greater Asia-Pacific and global engagement using APEC as a launching pad.

APEC is much more than trade and investor negotiations; it is an opportunity to extend a conversation to the entire region on issues of labor standards, environmental sustainability and consumer protections.

The value of the APEC meeting cannot be measured only in terms of the dollars and cents from a single event. It can best be assessed for what we make of it in the longer term. We’ve shown what we can do as partners in hosting APEC and in building new international relationships through APEC. With the same spirit, we will grow from APEC the economic, environmental and academic partnerships that will bear fruit for generations to come.