From K-pop to gaming and film, the Asia-Pacific’s creative industries are emerging as a trillion-dollar growth engine, and APEC is taking steps to unlock their full potential. This is the promise of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). Creative industries do more than entertain; they engage economies, empower individuals, and export identity. Creativity as Sustainable StrategyThe creative industries provide both hard economic returns and softer, but equally vital, dividends: resilience, inclusion and identity. APEC’s inaugural High-Level Dialogue on Culture and Creative Industries is more than symbolic.