Opening of the APEC Foreign and Economic Ministers' Meeting

(Baonghean) - On November 8, within the framework of the APEC 2017 Summit Week, the 29th APEC Foreign and Economic Ministers' Meeting (AMM) officially opened in Da Nang city.

Chairman of the APEC 2017 National Committee, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh co-chaired the conference.

The 29th AMM Conference was attended by Foreign and Economic Ministers of 21 member economies, along with the Executive Director of the International Secretariat, Head of the Observer Delegation, Chairman of the Business Advisory Council, and Director General of the World Trade Organization.

Panorama of the 29th Joint Foreign and Economic Ministers' Conference. Photo: VOV

In his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh highly appreciated APEC's role in promoting regional and global economy; at the same time, he emphasized that the 29th AMM is a forum with the desire to reach consensus among Foreign and Economic Ministers of APEC member economies, creating a basis for the meeting between APEC economic leaders in the coming days.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed that with the goal of “Creating new momentum, fostering a shared future”, APEC is striving to maintain the momentum of cooperation, promoting the four priorities of APEC 2017, including: sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; promoting deep regional economic integration; enhancing the competitiveness and innovation of micro, small and medium enterprises; enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change.

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh recalled the vision of leaders more than 20 years ago when setting the “Bogor Goals”. Minister Tran Tuan Anh affirmed that the 29th AMM Conference will discuss what APEC has been doing to move towards this important goal and will discuss the next steps to promote the process of completing the Bogor Goals.

The Minister also stated that the 21 member economies are making efforts to make the most of opportunities and demonstrate flexibility to complete the plans and initiatives of APEC leaders. In the process, the countries have always demonstrated their solidarity and created development momentum for the region.

Accordingly, Vietnam hopes that, in the context of rapid changes and instability in the world economy, what members are doing will be a "message demonstrating APEC's clear determination in liberalizing and expanding regional economy and investment".

A new vision for the future APEC framework needs to be built today. Economic cooperation frameworks need to be reviewed and can be gradually expanded to non-economic areas such as culture, environment, science and technology and education, with human development as the center and the decisive driving force for new cooperation frameworks and structures./.

America and Russia

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