HCM City (VNA) – The third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting
(SOM3) and related meetings wrapped up in Ho Chi Minh City on August 30 after 13
days of working.
Addressing a press conference the same day, Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs Bui Thanh Son, APEC 2017 SOM Chair, said the SOM3 and related meetings
has the largest scale in the APEC Year 2017 with nearly 80 meetings and 3,000
delegates, including ministers, deputy ministers of APEC member economies, and
representatives from APEC observers, international organisations and
businesses.
He reviewed the SOM3, the High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy,
the Symposium on Promoting Economic, Financial and Social Inclusion in APEC and
the SOM Dialogue on Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)/Free Trade Agreements
(FTAs) in HCM City, along with the Food Security Week and the High-Level Policy
Dialogue on Enhancing Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in response to
Climate Change in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho.
The SOM3 and related meetings took place in the context of bright
prospects for global and regional economy and trade, Son said, noting that the
regional economic growth rate is forecast to surpass that of the global
economy.
However, the widening development gaps between economies and within each economy
and the occurrence of non-traditional security challenges such as natural
disasters, diseases, population aging and climate change require the APEC to
maintain its growth rate while strengthening its cooperation as well as
connectivity to benefit people and businesses more practically.
The meetings mulled over a range of issues, from human resources
development and structural reform to support for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), anti-corruption, natural disaster response and business
environment improvement.
According to Son, the APEC economies affirmed their determination to
bring pragmatic and specific interests to each economy, community and the
business circle.
Therefore, inclusive growth was debated at meetings of APEC committees
and groups, covering economy, finance and society.
Vietnam’s initiatives to organise the Symposium on Promoting Economic,
Financial and Social Inclusion in APEC has received support and active
participation of other APEC member economies and international organisations,
Son said.
This is also the first of its kind held by the APEC in an effort to
combine policies and actions of its committees and working groups, he added,
stressing that the symposium underlined the need to develop an APEC action plan
on inclusive growth which sets forth specific norms, inter-sectoral solutions
and measures to improve legal and institutional capacity to boost inclusive
growth.
Outcomes of the seventh High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy and
the Food Security Week and the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing Food
Security and Sustainable Agriculture in response to Climate Change have also
significantly contributed to the APEC’s goal of economic, financial and social inclusion,
the APEC SOM Chair said.
He said the delegates sought measures to increase finance for the health
sector, expand the medical network, narrow urban-rural development gaps and
facilitate the operation of small-scale enterprisesin the farming.
The APEC economies were resolved to boost regional trade liberalisationand
investment in rural areas through the implementation of Bogor Goals by 2020 and
discussed how to prepare for the post-2020 APEC Vision, Son said.
He stressed the need for the APEC member economies to continue exchange
experience and improve capacity to maximise the RTAs and FTAs, especially
developing economies, in order to accelerate the negotiation, signing and
implementation of the deals.
The APEC senior officials approved three important documents, including
the Framework on Cross-border E-commerce Facilitation, the Best Practices on Promoting
Supporting Industries in Asia-Pacific Region, and the Monitoring Framework on the Supply-Chain
Connectivity Framework Action
Plan
(SCFAP II).
Such outcomes have not only satisfied the interests of
the APEC member economies and businesses but also met Vietnam’s socio-economic
development requirements, including those in sustainable development with
people as the centre, Son said.
The delegates also talked about
preparations for the APEC Leaders’ Week scheduled for November in the central city of Da Nang, and other APEC meetings in
the time ahead, he added.-VNA