Second working day of APEC SOM1 with activities of 10 working groups

 

After the two working days, working groups on emergency preparedness, human resources development, intellectual property rights, policy partnership on science, technology and innovation, and chemicals reached agreements on key contents, which will be used for the agenda of the high-level policy dialogue on food and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change in August 2017 in Can Tho city; to draw up a strategy to meet the need for intellectual property rights of medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME); to enhance the application of scientific and technological advances to increase capacity to respond to disasters; to boost cooperation between governments and producers to improve the management and safe use of chemicals; and to create a favorable environment for innovation, contributing to promoting growth and connectivity in the region.

Meanwhile, officials at the working groups’ meetings on illegal logging and associated trade, human resources development, and anti-corruption and transparency agreed on priorities for cooperation in 2017 but still discussed approaches to facilitate the travel of labors, to encourage people’s participation in anti-corruption activities, and to set a legal framework for timber trade. Regarding business mobility, officials focused on bilateral meetings between APEC member economies.

The Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), and the Sub-Committee on Life Sciences and Innovation Forum (LSIF) started their first working day on February 19.

As the host of the APEC Year 2017, Vietnam has been actively participating in and made contributions to the meetings’ contents. Participating Vietnamese ministries and agencies have proposed a number of ideas on policies to encourage innovation, promote effective cooperation among policy executing agencies and dialogues on anti-corruption and trade fraud.

Translated by Thu Nguyen