All preparations done for first APEC Senior Officials Meeting

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Meeting of the Policy Support Unit (PSU) (Photo: VNA)

Khanh Hoa (VNA) – All necessary preparations for the first APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) have been completed after the SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH (SCE), the SOM Friends of the Chair (FoTC) on Connectivity and the Policy Support Unit (PSU) concluded their final meetings on March 1.

As the first event with the attendance of APEC senior officials, the FoTC meeting updated the progress of implementing initiatives to deploy the APEC Connectivity Blueprint. The delegates also discussed the implementation of the long-term plan on infrastructure investment and development as well as the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap.

In his opening speech, Vietnamese Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister, APEC 2017 Chair Bui Thanh Son stressed that enhancing connectivity will help create new dynamism for economic growth, promote inclusive development, strengthen regional economic links and bring APEC economies closer.

Today, SCE heard a report on the APEC work plan presented by Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat Alan Bollard. On this basis, the committee re-examined and made recommendations to the work plans in 2017 of its subordinate working groups.

At its meeting, PSU re-examined the unit’s operations in the past year and underway projects. In 2016, PSU conducted 18 publications and reports. A number of researches implemented by PSU focus on structural reform, regional economic trend, promoting digital trade to serve inclusive growth and industry support policy.

Also on March 1, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat Alan Bollard held a meeting with the media to share the views on the context for SOM1 and discuss the outlook for policy collaboration between Vietnam and other APEC economies.

Vietnam’s delegation continued making contributions to APEC activities by chairing the FoTC and PSU Meetings.

On March 2, the most important event - SOM1 – will begin its two-day gathering.-VNA