Vietnam supports achieving the Bogor Goals by 2020.
The 19th APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting took place over two days, April 20-21, in the port city of Surabaya, East Java province, Indonesia.
Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang led the Vietnamese delegation to APEC and held numerous bilateral meetings and contacts with APEC partners to discuss and resolve issues of bilateral cooperation in economics, trade, and industry, as well as participating in and negotiating Vietnam's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang. (Source: VNA)
Prior to that, the Ministerial Meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries also took place on April 19th.
According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta, amidst ongoing global economic instability, APEC is emerging as an economic powerhouse, a crucial driver of global economic growth, and a strengthening of its important role in world trade and the World Trade Organization's global trade liberalization process. This is the driving force behind APEC's continued focus on cooperation to promote economic growth.
With the theme "Asia-Pacific Resilience: Driving Force for Global Economic Growth," host country Indonesia has set three top priorities and specific cooperation goals in its action plan as APEC Chair in 2013, including working towards achieving the Bogor Goals; maintaining sustainable and equitable growth; and promoting regional connectivity.
Accordingly, the APEC Ministerial Meeting focused on key issues such as supporting the multilateral trading system, promoting the Doha Round of negotiations, and APEC's priorities for 2013. The meeting issued a separate statement on "Supporting the Multilateral Trading System through the 9th WTO Ministerial Meeting, to be held in December this year in Bali, Indonesia."
Speaking at the Conference, Minister Vu Huy Hoang affirmed Vietnam's consistent policy in the process of regional and international economic integration, Vietnam's support for the WTO, and its determination to soon complete the Doha Round of negotiations; highlighted the need to achieve the "Bogor Goals" on schedule by 2020 by all member economies through specific and practical initiatives alongside addressing trade and investment barriers; and emphasized Vietnam's priority for APEC cooperation on supply chain connectivity, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and strengthening infrastructure development.
Within the framework of economic and trade cooperation, the Vietnamese delegation also put forward several initiatives such as facilitating the development of supporting industries; sharing experiences on providing capital for the development of renewable energy, which were supported by many APEC members.
This is Vietnam's effort to promote trade and investment cooperation in the region, while also helping to leverage the Capacity Building Program for developing APEC members in facilitating trade and investment.
Furthermore, Vietnam is also one of the leading economies in implementing many capacity-building activities for APEC in negotiating FTAs.
On the sidelines of the Conference, the Vietnamese delegation attended the ministerial meeting of the TPP negotiating economies. At this meeting, the participating parties agreed on a roadmap for future negotiations, including several ministerial-level meetings, and unanimously supported Japan's participation in the TPP negotiations, raising the total number of members to 12 countries, accounting for approximately 40% of the world's GDP.
Minister Vu Huy Hoang also held numerous bilateral meetings with ministers and heads of delegations participating in the APEC Ministerial Meeting, including Russia, the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union, the United States, China, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, and Hong Kong (China), to strengthen bilateral cooperation and address economic, trade, and industrial issues between Vietnam and its partners, as well as to promote the progress of negotiations and implementation of Vietnam's bilateral and multilateral FTAs with these partners in the future.
According to (VNA) - LT
