APEC 2017: Russian experts highly appreciate Vietnam's agenda priorities

On October 23, at the conference room of the “Russian World” Center in Moscow, the Russian Federation, a roundtable conference “APEC 2017: Results, Problems and Prospects after 2020” took place, bringing together most of Russia’s leading expert community from the Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President, the National Committee for Research on the Group of Leading Emerging Economies of the World (BRICS), the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian National Center for Research on the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC), as well as advisors of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

Conference scene. (Photo: Tam Hang/Vietnam+)

On the Vietnamese side, Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, economic expert and Chairman of the National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (VNCPEC), attended and participated in the discussion.

The conference program is arranged according to the priorities set by Vietnam as the economy - APEC Chair 2017. The four priorities include promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; promoting deep regional economic integration; enhancing the competitiveness and innovation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the digital age; enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture, adapting to climate change.

These priorities will focus specifically on the Asia-Pacific economic integration processes; APEC's work on promoting economic growth and development; and the forum's initiatives and projects in the fields of agriculture and food security.

The workshop opened with an overview of Vietnam's goals and priorities presented by expert Vo Tri Thanh. At the same time, delegates also reviewed a video clip introducing in detail Vietnam's achievements in economic development and international integration.

Nearly 20 presentations at the workshop demonstrated the scientific and fundamental approach of Russian experts to the issue of cooperation within the APEC framework, in which a special position was reserved for cooperation with Vietnam as an opening door to the ASEAN region in particular and Asia in general.

The issues in Russia-Vietnam cooperation are analyzed from the reasons, purposes, orientations, current situation to prospects. The participation of Vietnam as host and Russia in the upcoming APEC Summit in Da Nang city is highly appreciated from both economic and political perspectives in the context of Russia needing to further diversify trade agreements, seek and dominate the market, while Vietnam is facing a favorable opportunity to penetrate an extremely large market, the Eurasian Economic Union with the Russian economy as the locomotive.

Speaking to a VNA reporter in Russia, Mr. Valery Sorokin, a senior APEC official of Russia, head of the Russian Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) delegation, said he highly appreciated Vietnam's hosting of the 2017 APEC Summit. All activities so far have been going smoothly and organized at the highest level. He hopes that the upcoming conference in Da Nang will also be a great success and that the Post-2020 Development Vision will be adopted.

According to Mr. Sorokin, the Russian side is very interested in the initiatives put forward by Vietnam, paying special attention to drafting joint action programs within the APEC framework to strengthen inclusive economic, financial and social development. Russia participates most actively in this initiative and has made proposals on this issue, one of which is ensuring economic development in remote areas. This is a program of the Russian Government and is now very compatible with the above initiative of Vietnam.

One of the important tasks of the 2017 APEC Summit is to ensure safety for economic development, including fighting against terrorist financing, cooperating in dealing with the consequences of natural disasters, coping with epidemics, and fighting corruption...

Through the lens of cooperation possibilities in the APEC region, important issues for Russia-Vietnam bilateral cooperation were also considered at the workshop. These included the results of implementing the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC) and Vietnam, cooperation in the fields of agriculture, education and scientific progress.

In this regard, Dr. Vo Tri Thanh pointed out that the Russia-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) needs to be placed in the overall integration relations of the Asia-Pacific region and needs to be connected with the production network and value chain of other agreements to achieve higher efficiency for both Russia and Vietnam. He also contributed some opinions on integration policy to the Russian side, such as the need to diversify free trade agreements further as well as pay attention to integrating high-quality FTA agreements.

An important component of the discussion was the potential contribution of Russia and Vietnam to the formation of APEC's agenda after 2020, when the forum must complete the implementation of the Bogor goals, which have defined APEC's operational priorities since 1994. Referring to Russia's upcoming projects within the APEC framework, Ms. Tatiana Flegontova, Director of the APEC Research Center of the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, said that in addition to the initiative to develop remote areas, Russia also focuses on technology development such as cluster policy, high-tech market development, and regional integration.

With that goal, Russia focuses on a number of important tasks at the upcoming APEC 2017 Summit in Da Nang: including the regional integration of Russia's partners in the EAEC, and especially the issue of inclusive development, the obligations of countries on environmentally friendly goods are also among Russia's priority concerns at APEC this time.

According to the analysis and reports at the conference, although there are still gaps in Russia's Asian integration project, the prospects for economic efficiency from APEC as well as in Russia-Vietnam bilateral cooperation, and Vietnam's role in the Eastward policy are highly trusted by Russian experts. From that common perception, the delegates attending the conference came to a common conclusion and will announce it in the coming days as expert advice for the country's policymakers on one of the important development orientations and top priorities of the Russian economy./.

According to Vietnam+