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 capital of the Russian Federation, a roundtable conference “APEC 2017: Results, Problems and Prospects after 2020” took place, bringing together most of the leading Russian expert community from the Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the National Committee for the Study of the Group of Leading Emerging Economies (BRICS), the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian National Center for the Study of 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 workshop 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; deepening 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 on the economic integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region; 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 that Russia needs 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 and head of the Russian Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) delegation, said he highly appreciated Vietnam's hosting of the APEC Summit 2017. 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 the Post-2020 Development Vision will be adopted.

According to Mr. Sorokin, Russia 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 has participated in this initiative most actively 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 terrorism financing, cooperating to resolve the consequences of natural disasters, dealing with epidemics, 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 (EAEU) 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 within the overall integration relations of the Asia-Pacific region and needs to be connected to 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 further diversify free trade agreements as well as pay attention to integrating high-quality FTA agreements.

An important part 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 framework of APEC, 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 technological development such as cluster policies, high-tech market development, and regional integration.

With that goal, Russia focuses on a number of important tasks at the upcoming APEC Summit 2017 in Da Nang: including on the agenda 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 one of Russia's priority concerns at this APEC.

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 policy makers on one of the important development orientations and top priorities of the Russian economy./.

According to Vietnam+