Officials at the APEC Senior Finance Officials' Meeting pose for a photo (Photo: VNA) Quang Nam (VNA)– Finance officials from 21 APEC member economies gathered in thecentral province of Quang Nam’s Hoi An ancient city on October 19 to draft the JointMinisterial Statement.
The event also drew theparticipation of delegates from the World Bank (WB), the International MonetaryFund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD).
They set to review all the four policy priorities in 2017,including Long-term Investment in Infrastructure, Base Erosion and ProfitShifting, Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance and Financial Inclusion, whichwere discussed at the Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting (SFOM) in Ninh Binhprovince in May.
Review on the Finance Ministers' Process (FMP) will be the focus of theongoing meeting as well.
The outcomes of the cooperation in the four priorities will be reportedto the Ministers on October 21 and a Joint Ministerial Statement will bereleased on regional cooperation issues, policy themes and directions for theAPEC FMP in the coming time.
[APEC 2017: Finance ministers discuss cooperation priorities in 2017]
In an interview with Vietnam News Agency reporters, John A Unware, FirstAssistant Secretary of the Strategy Division under Papua Guinea’s Department ofTreasury said he was impressed by Vietnam’s meticulous preparations for theevent. As his country will host the next event, Papua Guinea must learn a lotfrom those with significant experiences like Vietnam, he said.
John A Unware said technical cooperation among enterprises and financialeducation for local people will be priorities in the next event.
APEC isunited in a drive to build a dynamic, sustainable and harmonious Asia-Pacificcommunity by boosting free and open trade and investment, promoting andaccelerating regional economic integration, encouraging economic and technicalcooperation, and facilitating a favorable and sustainable business environment.APEC initiatives turn policy goals into concrete results and agreements intotangible benefits.
Theidea of APEC was firstly publicly broached by former Prime Minister ofAustralia Bob Hawke during a speech in Seoul, the Republic of Korea on31 January 1989. Ten months later, 12 Asia-Pacific economies met inCanberra, Australia, to establish APEC. The founding members were: Australia,Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia,New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.
China,Hong Kong (China) and Chinese Taipei joined in 1991. Mexico and Papua NewGuinea followed in 1993. Chile acceded in 1994. And in 1998, Peru, Russia andVietnam joined the forum, taking the full membership to 21.
This is the second time Vietnam has hosted the APEC Year after the first in 2006.-VNA
VNA
