Asian-Pacific economies should establish an agenda with strategies on what they can do together to help the region continue to be the main driver in realising the Bogor Goals in terms of trade and investment, said a senior official from Papua New Guinea.

Participants in the APEC Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting pose for a photo

Ivan Pomaleu told the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the APEC Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) in the central city of Da Nang on November 6 that this week, APEC senior officials are looking for a number of initiatives to be submitted to the ministers and leaders and reviewing what they have done to boost the achievement of the Bogor Goals by 2020 and beyond.

“I see a lot of good works Vietnam has actually done and so we are keen to watch how it does missions with the Bogor Goals 2020”, he said.

Obviously, this November 6-7 meeting aims to review what Vietnam has done over the last 12 months and make final reports to be sent to the ministers at the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) on important issues related to trade, sustainable development, among others, according to Ivan Pomaleu.

“Our ministers will be strongly supporting mechanisms focusing on the post-2020 Agenda and we should see how to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to connect with the global market,” he said. 

He also praised Vietnam’s hosting of APEC 2017, especially its preparations for the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week. “I can say that Vietnam has done a fantastic job when hosting APEC 2017”, he stressed. 

Actually, Vietnam has done well in terms of preparation for APEC 2017, although there are many challenges in how consensuses and compromises can be fostered to identify APEC concepts on such areas as trade, investment, globalisation and how to sustain a free trade area for APEC, he said.

“It is very important for our country to learn experience from Vietnam in hosting meetings for next year,” he added.

Meanwhile, Che Mafni Che Wook, a senior official from Malaysia, said all initiatives proposed by Vietnam for this year are important, especially the framework on human resources development in the digital age. 

“Not only Vietnam boosts business and human resources in this area but the whole of APEC because we need to prepare human resources in terms of digitalisation and see how we could support human resources development, especially in manufacturing,” she said.

She noted that APEC is also focusing on economic inclusion as well. “We now have the initiative on transformation with involvement of youth. We take into account the ideas of youth in order to chart the future of the APEC economy. Vietnam has put the proposal on the table and it is good for APEC as a whole”.

In this meeting, Vietnam is looking to have four initiatives in the agenda. They are human resources development in the digital age, inclusive growth, e-commerce facilitation and food security, she noted.

A representative from ​Chinese Taipei appreciated Vietnam’s initiative on financial, economic and social inclusion. “I think it is a good initiative because APEC is like a family, taking care of all people in the region,” he said.

Inclusion is very important and all APEC members should pursue it to have equal access for all people, he added.

The APEC Economic Leaders’ Week is taking place in Da Nang on November 6-11, drawing about 10,000 delegates from the 21 member economies.

Established in 1989, APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, ​Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.

It represents 39 percent of the world population, 57 percent of the world GDP and 49 percent of ​international trade.-VNA