APEC pursues strong, sustainable and balanced growth

APEC leaders at the 2012 APEC Summit

At the 24th APEC Ministerial Meeting, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and other APEC Ministers reviewed challenges, aimed at promoting the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Doha round, protesting against protectionism, strengthening economic integration in the region, constructing reliable supply chains and promoting creative growth. APEC Ministers endorsed an APEC List of Environmental Goods including 54 items whose tax rates will be reduced by no more than five percent from now until 2015, as according to a commitment made by related parties in 2011.

 On the sidelines of the 24th APEC Ministerial Meeting, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang attended a meeting of ministers from Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) member countries to discuss negotiation promotion solutions, contributing to stimulating regional economic connectivity. Ministers posed a Trans-Pacific Partnership Leadership Statement and welcomed Canada and Mexico to negotiations for their accession to the TPP in December 2012.

 With the theme 'Integrate to grow, renovate to prosper', the 20th APEC Summit discussed different issues related to economic development, food security, water resources, and endorsed a joint statement by APEC leaders. APEC leaders gave an assessment of challenges associated with economic recovery, growth slowdown potential, unstable financial markets, and the high level of European debts.

 Summit participants agreed upon speeding up implementation of the APEC Growth Strategy that was approved by APEC leaders in 2010, giving prominence to finance stabilization policies, supporting and contributing to international efforts especially decisions reached at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos and Mexico to grow strongly and on a stable and balanced basis, creating jobs and assuring social security.

 Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang when speaking at the summit proposed that APEC should attach higher importance to assisting its member economies in economic restructuring and growth model renovation while at the same time making further practical contributions to global economic and financial administrative reform towards equality, democracy and efficiency, bringing into play the role of developing and newly emerging economies.

 At the APEC business summit, leaders and more than 700 representatives from leading businesses in the region discussed challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. This is the first time the need to protect water sources was emphasized and it was agreed that water sources should be regarded as a new global strategic natural resource.

 Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gave speeches at an important session on food security and innovative growth of the summit. Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Chilean President were invited to give a speech and preside over a session on 'Water, a new global strategic natural resource' with the region's leading corporations at the APEC business summit.

 Vietnam's representatives shared the country's experience in coping with global challenges associated with food security and water source protection while suggesting that agricultural development and food security be made an important part of renovation and national development strategies. APEC members highly appreciated Vietnam's contributions to strengthening food security and water resource conservation within the framework of regional and international cooperation.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin said food security had become a major global challenge and APEC needed to take strong action. Food prices have remained high since the food crisis in 2007-2008 and they were forecast to continue changing until 2020. There are still one billion people worldwide suffering from poverty, 60 percent of whom are in the Asia-Pacific region.

 APEC leaders agreed to continue cooperative measures to assure food security based on a multi-sector approach, in which priority would be given to increasing investment in agriculture to improve food production output and productivity, public-private partnerships, the application of new technology, sustainable management of marine ecological systems, and control of illegal fishing. They agreed to promote cooperation in assuring food safety and development of transparent and stable farm produce markets.

 On the sidelines of the 20th APEC Summit, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and official members of the Vietnamese delegations had bilateral meetings with APEC leaders including the Russian and Chinese presidents, head of the US delegation, and presidents of the Philippines, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Chile, and Singaporean and Australian prime ministers.

 At their meeting, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Russian President Vladimir Putin highly rated the fact that Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Andrei Slepnev on September 5 signed the proceedings on the impact of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Tariff Alliance (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) in the first quarter of 2013. The two Presidents agreed to speed up negotiations to promote an early signature of the agreement.

 The two parties agreed to further strengthen the multifaceted relationship between Vietnam and the Russian Far East, especially in the potential fields of mining, wood product production, textiles and garment, fisheries, and education and training. Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang emphasized that Vietnam was interested and wanted to participate in investment in the Russian Far East. He said that with its experiences and advantages, Vietnam could assist Russia to thoroughly exploit this region's potential. Before that, the Vietnamese President met with Russian President's Representative in Far East Federal District, Victor Ishaev, and Primorie regional Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky.

 At a bilateral meeting between Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and RoK President Lee Myung-bak, it was proposed that the two parties promote economic, trade cooperation to increase bilateral trade to US$20 billion in 2015./.

Collected by Thu Hang