APEC officials and leaders of agricultural businesses in the region met on Thursday to discuss responsible use of resources that will ensure long-term food production and decent living standards for everyone.

APEC authorities and Agriculture CEOs on Thursday discussed responsible use of resources to enable long-term food production and ensure decent living standards for all stakeholders.

They also discussed the roles of the public and private sectors in this process.

Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, hailed the private sector for "actively participating in doing research and promoting science and technology application in production, and efficiently using natural and human resources to ensure productivity to meet consumption demands."

The business community’s participation has facilitated the work of authorities in mobilising various social resources, including qualified personnel and diverse financial sources for infrastructure investment and services, modern post-harvest management and other activities, Ha said.

Acknowledging practical benefits of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, Viet Nam has made great efforts over the last few years to develop and consolidate an enabling environment for it, he said.

Agricultural infrastructure development and services that link production, processing and consumption are areas with high potential for PPP investors, he added.

Pham Ngo Quoc Thang, CEO of Lavifood JSC, said that enterprises have received a lot of support from the Government, but needed more.

"The Government has made great efforts to support agricultural processing enterprises. I think this is a great improvement on the domestic side. What we need now is more information about technical barriers [in accessing foreign markets] and new technologies."

Thang said that he hoped that the forum would help enterprises learn about new technologies from international friends to improve productivity.

Anne Ruston, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, stressed the need for open discussions in the region, saying all APEC economies could learn from one another.

She said that though each APEC economy had a different set of circumstances, priorities or objectives, a forum like the current one can guide discussions towards things that they can do along the way like investment in research and development, innovation and technology, and best practices to promote food and sustainability, making sure people in every economy would all have jobs that provides them with standard living conditions.

Policymakers, experts and CEOs attending the forum highlighted challenges preventing the PPP model from realising its full potential.

Grahame Dixie, executive director of World Economic Forum – Grow Asia Initiative, said there were three major challenges that have not been discussed much.

The first is a platform for public and private sectors to talk more openly to one another, the second, needed policy changes.

"Stability in policy is very important for private-public investments to actually take place."

Finally, implementation of regulations should be far more effective, he said.  

APEC discusses experiences in simplifying business registration     

APEC members shared their experiences in assisting companies, especially micro, small and medium-sized ones, smoothly register for doing business at a workshop titled “Simplified business registration and incorporation according to international best practices” held in HCM City on Thursday.

Participants exchange information before the workshop. 

Hosted by the US, the workshop attracted around 100 participants and experts from 21 APEC economies.

Over four sessions, participants shared international best practices in several areas, including incorporation of business, simplifying business registration including fully-fledged limited liability, creation by one or more persons, freedom of contract in the formation of a company, non-paid-in minimum capital, optional use of intermediaries, flexible organisational and accounting rules, one-stop registration, ready access to information online, simplification of registration forms and fees, and unique registration number.

Speaking to Viet Nam News on the sidelines of the workshop, an expert from an APEC member said: “The workshop is about starting a business category analysis, but it goes beyond doing business. It talks a lot about some best practices and simplified business registration and incorporation.

“Particularly for micro, small, medium-sized enterprises, of which of course Viet Nam has many, it is always a little harder to get a business started, it is harder to register a simplified incorporation. And so because formalisation for small businesses is very important both to the economy as well as the businesses.

“This is a big challenge for the APEC region, so that is something we are trying to work on.

“Everyone understands the need for micro and small businesses to register to be active.”

Another representative from an Asian member said: “APEC is a good forum where members can study each other through sharing of experiences.”

According to her, the most important aspect of simplifying registration is using technology, including digital, so that new companies can register online, which helps save time and cost.

A number of case studies from Mexico, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Estonia, and the US were also shared at the workshop.

The Vietnamese delegation too shared its experiences.

Colombia, Argentina and Mexico spoke about the solutions they have adopted to simplify registration of enterprises.

The workshop helped participants understand more about the requirements for simplifying registration, Francisco Reyes of Colombia said.

A draft study titled “Assessing APEC starting a business frameworks according to international best practices” released at the workshop said: “Starting a business is the first stage in the life cycle of businesses and a straightforward, understandable system of business registration results in positive impacts on economic output.”

The study quoted the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as saying, “From estimates based in the EU, a 25 per cent reduction in administrative costs produces a 1.5 per cent increase in GDP.”

The study added: “The World Bank also estimated that in developing economies a 10-day reduction in business start-up time boosts growth and investment rates by 0.4 per cent and 0.27 per cent respectively. Making starting a business accessible, understandable and affordable has real effects on the economic growth and level of investment in an economy, making it a priority endeavour to boost economic growth.”

The workshop was held under the aegis of APEC’s Economic Committee. The experiences and initiatives shared there will be submitted the Economic Committee’s meeting to be held in HCM City today. 

APEC discusses trade facilitation

The APEC Committee on Trade and Investment – Friends of the Chair on Trade Facilitation meeting in HCM City. 

Trade facilitation is one of the most important priorities for APEC, a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Investment – Friends of the Chair on Trade Facilitation heard in HCM City on Thursday.

“APEC has been leading the world in trade facilitation, and we are now hoping to contribute to the implementation of trade facilitation by members,” Marie Sherylyn D. Aquia, supervising trade and industry development specialist, Bureau of International Trade Relations, the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry, who chaired the meeting, said.

“Today we are drafting a monitoring framework for the supply chain framework action plan, which is now in phase 2. We would also try to address five chokepoints that will decrease the cost of doing business and also improve the efficiency and reliability of supply chains.”

The first of the five chokepoints she referred to is the lack of co-ordinated border management and underdeveloped border clearance and procedures.

The second is the inadequate quality and lack of access to transport infrastructure and services.

Member economies need to improve transportation infrastructure, which would determine the efficiency and reliability of supply chain operations, and ensure there are good port facilities and cross-border logistics co-operation to enable firms can send their goods at the required time as demanded by partners and customers, Aquia said.

It would also ensure shorter transit times and reliable delivery schedules and secure maritime trade at reasonable costs to promote multi-modal transportation to enhance transportation efficiency and reduce congestion, and encourage private participation and transparency in the financing of transport infrastructure, she said.

The third chokepoint is unreliable logistics services and high logistical costs.

The goals are to improve quality and options for logistics services through innovation and a more competitive market in logistics sector, and to have wider options to develop logistics services, Aquia said.

The fourth is the limited regulatory co-operation and best practices.

Aquia called for promoting better regulatory co-ordination and co-operation between trade authorities and private stakeholders.

The final problem is the underdeveloped policy and regulatory infrastructure for e-commerce.

Members need to streamline procedures, improve supply chain visibility and have better collaboration in e-commerce, Aquia said. 

VNS