President Nguyen Minh Triet and other leaders of the 21 APEC economies gathered on November 13 in Yokohama city of Japan for the opening of the 18th Asian-Pacific Economic Conference.
Under the chairmanship of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the conference focused on the global and regional economic situation and the cooperative policies among APEC members.
They emphasised that the world economy is seeing significant changes, and the Asia-Pacific is becoming one of the most dynamic regions for expanding the supply chain, applying information technology, and creating a solid regional alliance.
They said the world, particularly the Asia-Pacific region, is facing many challenges such as unsustainable recovery, environmental problems, exhausted natural resources, and climate change that are seriously affecting economic growth.
APEC leaders praised global and regional effort to deal with challenges, especially the important decisions made at the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September and the recent G20 Summit in the Republic of Korea.
After the opening ceremony, APEC leaders joined a closed meeting on maintaining growth and prosperity in the region. They all agreed that APEC should develop a new growth strategy to meet the demands of the changing economy, deal with new challenges, and ensure sustainable economic growth and an alliance that will benefit people.
According to the leaders, APEC growth strategy will focus on balanced, equal, sustainable, innovative, and safe growth.
They also attached great importance to promoting growth in the region and member economies through macroeconomic policies and restructuring to realize their growth potential.
In the spirit of “Change and Action”, the conference discussed an action plan for a growth strategy, including measures for restructuring mechanism, human resources development, green development, a knowledge-based economy, and human security.
Speaking at the conference, Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet stressed that boosting international cooperation and coordination is the key to dealing with the adverse impact of the global economic crisis.
In the new growth strategy, economic development should be associated with social development and environmental protection, in which human beings plays a central role, he said.
Mr. Triet proposed cooperation to narrow the development gap through strengthening economic, trade, and investment alliances, transferring technology, training human resources, developing infrastructure, and aligning growth strategy with the UN MDGs.
As ASEAN Chair, President Triet also underlined ASEAN’s achievements and contributions to sustainable development.
Later the same day, APEC leaders worked with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) on issues of mutual concern including the implementation of the Bogor goals to establish a trade and free investment environment by 2020, the acceleration of the Doha Round, and preventing protectionism.
On the sidelines of the conference, President Triet met with Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss ways to promote bilateral relationships and global issues of mutual concern.
President Perez and PM Harper both appreciated Vietnam’s high growth rate, its achievements of the MDGs, and its success as the ASEAN Chair. They also said they were committed to boosting cooperation with Vietnam in economics, trade, and investment.
(CPV)
