Reporter: Could you clarify the significance of APEC to Vietnam?
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son: Each cooperative mechanism brings about certain values to Vietnam and so does APEC. Since Vietnam joined APEC in 1989, the regional forum has become an important driving force, supporting the country’s economic reform, restructuring, growth model renovation, and connecting its economy to the rest of the world.
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son
APEC helps improve the country’s internal strength and promote its trade, investment and tourism exchanges with other APEC member economies. APEC represents 75% of the country’s total trade, 78% of the total foreign direct investment in the country and 79% of the total foreign visitors to the country. As a member of APEC, Vietnam has more opportunities to access advanced scientific and technological achievements, high management levels, to take advantage of international supports to improve domestic human resources, and to participate in global value-added chains. Vietnam’s ministries, agencies, localities, businesses and cadres involved in APEC can learn much from their peers and improve themselves through implementing APEC commitments and cooperation projects with other APEC members.
Reporter: Could you sum up major outcomes over the past year of the implementation of the four set priorities?
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son: We have witnessed rapid and complex changes in the region and world in 2017. The global economy and trade see some positive signs but still face long-term risks and increased protectionism.
In this context, Vietnam has persuaded other APEC members to agree on the four priorities of the APEC Year 2017, while continuing commitments and resolve to boost trade and investment. Such a message of APEC -- a large, influencing and important regional organization, has a positive impact on business activities and regional and global economic growth. As the host of the APEC Year 2017, Vietnam has actively encouraged and led APEC member economies in promoting practical cooperation via specific ideas with a focus on the fields really benefiting people and businesses. These specific ideas, which have been jointly built and agreed by APEC members, include human resources development in the digital era, sustainable development of tourism, green small and medium enterprises, innovation and sustainability, urban and rural development, food security, startup promotion, and women and economy.
Additionally, Vietnam has had the initiatives to promote socio-economic and financial inclusive development and to shape a future APEC beyond 2020, which have strongly been supported by APEC members. All the outcomes involve the implementation of the four priorities of the APEC Year 2017, aiming at creating a new momentum for regional growth and bringing APEC cooperation closer to people and businesses. These also serve as an important premise for the discussions of the APEC Economic Ministers’ and Leaders’ Meetings during the upcoming APEC Summit Week in Dang Nang, Vietnam.
Reporter: One of Vietnam’s expectations in the APEC Year 2017 is to make a practical contribution to the development process of APEC and to lead APEC cooperation toward more practical and effective outcomes. So what did the country do to reach the expectation?
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son: With the results we have achieved so far I can say that Vietnam’s contributions to the APEC Year 2017 is practically significant to the APEC cooperation process. Firstly, the host country in collaboration with other APEC members has prompted new driving forces for regional growth and connectivity through rendering specific supports for micro-, small- and medium- sized enterprises, taking advantage of the current industrial revolution, providing training of new skills for labors to seek jobs in the labor market of digital age, maintaining food security in the context of climate change with its drastic impacts on regional agriculture, backing women and other disadvantaged populations to participate in the economy and benefit by socio-economic development, and ensuring inclusive development.
Secondly, although this year’s APEC cooperation theme has inherited the APEC cooperation contents of previous years, the host country has also added current topics to this year’s APEC cooperation process. Thirdly, 2017 has been considered the year full of challenges for multilateral mechanisms and APEC is not an exception. In spite of this fact, Vietnam as the host country has managed to use the organization’s principles of consensus, voluntariness, non-compulsivity, equality and mutual benefit to encourage APEC members to maintain the momentum of cooperation and connection so as to reach agreement on a number of specific cooperation issues.
Fourthly, the events and activities within the framework of the APEC Year 2017 have so far contributed importantly to the position and status of APEC in the context that is shaping the region.
Reporter: Pushing up the completion of the Bogor Goals of APEC on free trade and investment by 2020 is considered key in the APEC Year 2017. What do you evaluate the efforts and progress of APEC for the goals since 2016?
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son: The effort to complete the Bogor Goals by 2020 has been a permanent central target of APEC since 1994. Over the past 23 years implementing the Bogor Goals, APEC members have achieved positive outcomes. The average tariff has reduced to 5.6% from more than 17%. The trade within APEC has reached 70%, a high level in comparison with other regional mechanisms. However, APEC members should make more efforts in some areas, such as facilitating investment and lowering the barriers of tariffs.
In 2017, APEC members continue to propose a number of ideas to implement the Bogor Goals and boost the deployment of commitments to the areas lagging behind the plan. So far, SOMs have recognized some specific outcomes and are going to report them to the upcoming APEC Ministers’ and Economic Leader’s Meetings. These outcomes include common effort to push for trans-border e-commerce, development of support industries, connections of supply chains, improvement of APEC members’ capacities in participating in and implementing free trade agreements, and harmonization of policies.
Reporter: Could you reveal the main contents of the agenda for the APEC 2017 Economic Leaders’ Meeting?
Deputy-Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son: The APEC 2017 Economic Leaders’ Meeting is the most important event of the APEC Year 2017. It is expected that APEC economic leaders will discuss and adopt the outcomes achieved over the year, and give orientations for the following years. In general, the agenda for the meeting will be closely connected to the theme of the APEC Summit Week 2017 “Creating new dynamism and fostering a shared future” and the four priorities of the APEC Year 2017 on promoting sustainable development, innovation and inclusiveness; deepening economic connections; improving the competitiveness of micro-, small- and medium- sized enterprises in the digital age; and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture to be adaptable to climate change.
Reporter: Thank you, Deputy Foreign Minister.
Translated by Thu Nguyen