SOM Chairman Bui Thanh Son, who is also a Deputy Foreign Minister of Vietnam and the Vice Chairman of the National Committee for APEC 2017, speaks at the meeting of the APEC Economic Committee on February 27 (Photo: VNA)Khanh Hoa(VNA) – Seven APEC committees and working groups held meetings on February 27 –the 10th day of the first APEC Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM 1) and related eventsin Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province.
At the first plenary session of the EconomicCommittee, participants discussed APEC cooperation in business facilitation,enterprise governance and law, administration reform, and state governance. Italso evaluated the prospect of the regional economy with opinions from expertsof the Asian Development Bank, the APEC Policy Support Unit, and Vietnam’sCentral Institute for Economic Management.
The APEC Policy Support Unit forecast from nowto 2019, the growth of APEC will slightly increase and become more and morestable despite a number of vagaries. The APEC economies posted an estimatedgrowth rate of 3.3 percent in 2016, higher than the world’s expansion of 3.1percent. They also continued to take the global lead in FDI attraction.
The APEC Budget and Management Committeeorganised a joint meeting with the SOM Steering Committee on Economic andTechnical Cooperation, focusing on management and budget-related aspects thatcan contribute to APEC’s Capacity Building Policy through economic andtechnical cooperation.
The Committee on Trade and Investment continuedits meeting on February 27 with attention to measures for enhancing moreextensive regional economic connectivity. Participants looked into such issuesas the cooperation in and development of supply chains, the facilitation ofmicro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises’ engagement in the global market,green growth, and environmental goods and services.
Meanwhile, the Ad Hoc Steering Group on the InternetEconomy commented on draft principles which look to build an APEC roadmap onthe internet economy in 2017.
On their last working day, the APEC PolicyPartnership on Food Security and the APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Groupapproved working plans for 2017 and mulled over preparations for a high-rankingpolicy dialogue on food security and sustainable agriculture in response toclimate change slated for this August in Can Tho city. They also convened ajoint session on promoting the role of fisheries cooperation and sustainablefisheries development in the region’s food security.-VNA
VNA
