Before heading to Vietnam to attend the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the central city of Da Nang, Mexican Prime Minister Enrique Pena wrote for the Mexican Government’s website, affirming that Vietnam and Mexico are uniting the Pacific.

In the writing, he expressed his pleasure to visit Vietnam, which he described as a country with millenary culture, kind people and economic potential, and called it an honor to be in Da Nang, believing that this will be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the ties between the two nations.

He highly valued the achievements Vietnam has made in the last thirty years of reform (Doi Moi), saying that Vietnam’s outstanding economic growth, its productive capacity and its macroeconomic stability are proof that transformation, renewal and modernisation bring positive results. This is also confirmed by the substantial increase in the country’s exports and growing trade.

He underlined the huge cooperation potential between Vietnam and Mexico, - two open and supplementary economies. The bilateral relationship has developed rapidly. Trade exchange rocketed, from 513 million USD in 2007 to over 5 billion USD in 2016. Vietnam is the fifth largest trade partner of Mexico in Asia-Pacific, while Mexico is Vietnam's No.1 trade partner in Latin America.

He reiterated that Mexico will continue deepening trade ties with the Asia-Pacific region. Mexico will work, together with Vietnam and other partners in the region, to launch the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as soon as possible.

Seven of the APEC economies are among the top ten trade partners of Mexico, he said, elaborating that about 88 percent of Mexico's exports and 80 percent of its imports come from the APEC members.

To achieve sustainable development, APEC member economies must promote sustainable and inclusive growth, deepen regional economic integration, strengthen the role of micro, small and medium enterprises in global value chains and face the impact of climate change with concrete actions, he underscored.

At the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Mexico hopes to continue contributing to the fulfillment of the Bogor Goals, he said, stressing the need for working on strategic issues such as services, investment, non-tariff measures, cross-border barriers and regulatory improvements. In addition, APEC economies need to consolidate the roadmap to establish the Post-2020 APEC Agenda, as the world faces an increasing transformation.

He expressed his belief that APEC 2017 will contribute to making the Asia-Pacific region even more dynamic. In a current complex environment, efforts to improve dialogue and cooperation are extremely valuable, he said, and congratulated the APEC Secretariat and the Government of Vietnam for the remarkable work they have done to make the event successful.-VNA