Vietnam marks 20 years of APEC membership

Vietnam became an official member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) on November 14, 1998, an important milestone in the implementation of its foreign policy.

The 10th APEC Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 14, 1998. At the opening session of this event, Vietnam, Russia and Peru were admitted into APEC, raising the number of APEC members to 21 (Photo: VNA)

Then Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam (front, second, left) and then Minister of Commerce Truong Dinh Tuyen (front, first, left) at a media conference following the opening session of the 6th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 15, 1998 (Photo: VNA)

Then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (first, right) and heads of other delegations pose for a photo at the 6th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 16, 1998 (Photo: VNA)

The 8th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Brunei on November 15, 2000 (Photo: VNA)

Then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (first, right) and other leaders at the 9th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, China, on October 20, 2001 (Photo: VNA)

Then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (front, first, right) and other leaders at the 10th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, on October 26, 2002 (Photo: VNA)

Then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (front, second, left) and other heads of delegations pose for a photo at the 11th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 21, 2003 (Photo: VNA)

The first session of the 13th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Busan, the Republic of Korea, on November 18, 2005 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Nguyen Minh Triet (front) reads the joint statement of the 14th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on November 19, 2006 (Photo: VNA)

The 15th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting takes place in Sydney, Australia, from September 7 to 9, 2007 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Nguyen Minh Triet (back, first, right) at the 16th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, on November 2008 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Nguyen Minh Triet (fifth, right) at the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting that took place in Singapore on November 14-15, 2009 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Nguyen Minh Triet (second, left) and other APEC leaders at their 18th meeting in Yokohama, Japan, in 2010 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Truong Tan Sang (back, first, right) and other leaders at the 19th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Hawaii, the US, from November 10 to 13, 2011 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Truong Tan Sang (back, first, left) and other heads of delegations at the 20th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, on September 9, 2012 (Photo: VNA)

Then President Tran Dai Quang (front, centre) and other heads of delegations at the 25th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang city, Vietnam, on November 11, 2017 (Photo: VNA)

VNA