State President Trương Tấn Sang will attend the 19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Hawaii, the US on November 10-13 at the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

State President Trương Tấn Sang will attend the 19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Hawaii, the US on November 10-13 at the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

Việt Nam’s participation in this APEC meeting reflects the 11th Party Congress foreign policy of proactively promoting intensive and comprehensive international integration and continuing to play an important role in Asia-Pacific regional cooperation frameworks, including APEC.

This will also be a chance for Việt Nam to take advantage of suitable APEC programs in an effort to stabilize the macro-economy, serve socio-economic development goals and renew the growth model.

The APEC meeting will offer an opportunity for Việt Nam to boost political, trade and investment relations with regional partners, while helping to deepen ties between Việt Nam and other APEC members through the exchange of information on the socio-economic situation as well as on the guidelines and policies of Việt Nam.

Under the theme, “Strengthening regional economic connectivity and expanding trade”, the 19th APEC Leaders’ Meeting will focus on three areas of priority, namely regional economic connectivity and trade expansion; green growth and advancing regulatory cooperation and convergence.

Cooperation on the technical economy and human security will be discussed at ministerial meetings and senior officials meetings (SOMs).

Economic experts said that in the context of global economic difficulties, the strengthening of trade and cooperation in solving economic issues to overcome crisis will open up new opportunities for all APEC members to boost their economic development.

Established in 1989 and with 18 summits held, APEC is now the largest economic trade cooperation group in the Asia-Pacific region. It includes 21 member economies and accounts for 40% of the global population, 55% of GDP and 44% of world trade.

APEC is actively speeding up efforts to strengthen the efficiency of cooperation and improve its role in the world economic restructuring process, especially in the face of the emergence of other regional mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement and G20.

Since it joined APEC in November 1998, Việt Nam has been an active and responsible member of the organization. The success of APEC Year 2006 hosted by Việt Nam has left good impressions on APEC members.

Việt Nam has made contributions to building APEC cooperation contents, strategies and action plans in all fields and seriously implemented the organization’s commitments. The country has actively proposed about 70 initiatives on trade, investment, technical cooperation, healthcare, and responses to a state of emergency and counter-terrorism.

Intra-APEC cooperative activities have helped improve Việt Nam’s position in the region and the international arena, as well as boost bilateral relations with important partners in the Asia-Pacific region.