Deputy Prime Minister reveals special things of the year

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said that Xi Jinping and Donald Trump's visit to Vietnam on the occasion of the APEC conference is a special event this year.

In the hallway of the National Assembly on the afternoon of October 30, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh answered the press about the upcoming APEC conference.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh. Photo: Hoang Long

Dear Minister, the main issue raised at APEC is economics and trade. How have we prepared so that the leaders of the 20 member economies will agree with the proposals that Vietnam is expected to put forward?

Since the beginning of the year, Vietnam's proposals have been agreed to by all countries.

All documents are being drafted, Vietnam is discussing with other countries to reach a high consensus in the upcoming summit week. APEC is basically free trade and creating favorable conditions for investment.

This year, Vietnam is further promoting support for small and medium enterprises to create an environment for this economic sector to develop. Another issue is human resources for the digital age.

These are the issues that the conferences have been implementing in the past year. Regarding human resources, trade, and finance, in terms of finance alone, there are 4 extremely necessary contents (Finance for infrastructure; Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS); Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance; and Inclusive Finance).

All the contents of the recent ministerial conferences will be discussed and agreed upon by the upcoming inter-ministerial conference to be included in the document submitted to the summit. The summit will have a statement on the issues in 2017.

Diplomatic work was very successful.

In addition to the summit, on this occasion, Vietnam will also welcome four official state visits from world leaders that are of interest to both domestic and foreign public opinion. Could the Minister provide information about these visits and the goals set for each visit?

The ultimate goal is to enhance Vietnam's relations with countries and with each country whose leader is visiting Vietnam for the first time: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, General Secretary - President Xi Jinping officially visiting Vietnam after the 19th Party Congress of China, US President Donald Trump and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.

What is the significance of Mr. Xi Jinping and Mr. Donald Trump's visit to Vietnam this time?

This is a special event this year, because Vietnam is the host country of APEC. It is also a regular practice for countries to take the opportunity to attend the APEC summit to make official visits to Vietnam.

However, which country chooses to make an official visit on this occasion shows that the relationship between that country and Vietnam is developing. Because on this occasion, leaders of many countries attend the conference, but it is not an official visit, but only to attend the conference.

The fact that four heads of state have chosen to officially visit Vietnam in the coming days also shows that our diplomatic work this year has been extremely successful.

Vietnam's position is rising in the international arena, so many countries want to take this opportunity to conduct bilateral visits and official state visits to further promote bilateral relations, not just multilateral relations on the APEC front.

Both the US and China made high-level visits to Vietnam in 2015 and 2016. This clearly demonstrates their views and policies on promoting the development of relations with Vietnam.

We have carefully prepared to welcome two great world leaders, showing that Vietnam maintains good and meaningful multilateral relations with major powers.

According to Vietnamnet