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 events in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province.
At the first plenary session of the Economic Committee, participants discussed APEC cooperation in business facilitation, enterprise governance and law, administration reform, and state governance. It also evaluated the prospect of the regional economy with opinions from experts of the Asian Development Bank, the APEC Policy Support Unit, and Vietnam’s Central Institute for Economic Management.
The APEC Policy Support Unit forecast from now to 2019, the growth of APEC will slightly increase and become more and more stable despite a number of vagaries. The APEC economies posted an estimated growth rate of 3.3 percent in 2016, higher than the world’s expansion of 3.1 percent. They also continued to take the global lead in FDI attraction.
The APEC Budget and Management Committee organised a joint meeting with the SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation, focusing on management and budget-related aspects that can contribute to APEC’s Capacity Building Policy through economic and technical cooperation.
The Committee on Trade and Investment continued its meeting on February 27 with attention to measures for enhancing more extensive regional economic connectivity. Participants looked into such issues as the cooperation in and development of supply chains, the facilitation of micro-, 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 Internet Economy commented on draft principles which look to build an APEC roadmap on the internet economy in 2017.
On their last working day, the APEC Policy Partnership on Food Security and the APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Group approved working plans for 2017 and mulled over preparations for a high-ranking policy dialogue on food security and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change slated for this August in Can Tho city. They also convened a joint session on promoting the role of fisheries cooperation and sustainable fisheries development in the region’s food security.-VNA
VNA
