At the opening ceremony of the third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM3) (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – The ongoing third Senior Officials’ Meeting(SOM3) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has updated a draftreport on APEC economic policy on human resources development and structuralreform, said Assistant to the APEC 2017 SOM Chair Do Hung Viet.
Speaking at a press briefing in HoChi Minh City on August 29, Viet said the report will be presented at theConcluding APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) in the central city of Da Nangin November.
The delegates also reviewed the work carried out by APEC committees, includingthe Economic Committee (EC), the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), the Steering Committee onEconomic and Technical Cooperation (SCE), and the Budget and ManagementCommittee (BMC), he added.
At the meeting, theEC proposed the officials approve two important documents that are the Frameworkon Cross-border E-commerce Facilitation that Vietnam has promoted over the pasttime, and the Best Practices on Promoting Supporting Industries in Asia-PacificRegion, Viet added.
They also looked into initiatives and proposals in preparation for the APECLeaders’ Week in the central city of Da Nang in November.
Viet said during more than ten days of working, the SOM3 and related meetingsfeatured nearly 80 meetings of APEC committees, groups and forums, withthe participation of close to 3,000 delegates.
EC Chair Rory McLeod toldVietnam News Agency reporters on the sidelines of the SOM3 that they have discussedstructural reform, how to make the market function better, “ease of doingbusiness” and competition policy.
“We are working on helping people by improving training, the availability ofwork and making sure that the labour market has protection for workers,” hesaid.
Asked about the agenda of the SOM3 proposed by Vietnam, Arthayudh Srisamoot, Director General of the Department of International Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, said that theagenda is very comprehensive as it covers a range of issues from trade, economyand finance to connectivity, prosperity and development of people in theregion.
“We talked about the wellbeing of people through human resources development,capacity building and skill development,” the official said.
Kathrn Heather Barbara Clemans, a US delegate, said all the initiativesproposed are desired to help people of the APEC economies build skillsnecessary to be able to operate in the new economy and they also provide avenue for officials to be able to take policy decisions that also benefitpeople.
Many delegates at the event said they were impressed by the symposium oneconomic, financial and social inclusion, saying it is a big, thoughtful andnew topic raised by host Vietnam. -VNA
VNA
