Finance officials from 21 APEC member economies gathered in the central province of Quang Nam’s Hoi An ancient city on October 19 to draft the Joint Ministerial Statement.

Officials at the APEC Senior Finance Officials' Meeting pose for a photo

The event also drew the participation of delegates from the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

They set to review all the four policy priorities in 2017, including Long-term Investment in Infrastructure, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance and Financial Inclusion, which were discussed at the Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting (SFOM) in Ninh Binh province in May.

Review on the Finance Ministers' Process (FMP) will be the focus of the ongoing meeting as well.

The outcomes of the cooperation in the four priorities will be reported to the Ministers on October 21 and a Joint Ministerial Statement will be released on regional cooperation issues, policy themes and directions for the APEC FMP in the coming time.

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency reporters, John A Unware, First Assistant Secretary of the Strategy Division under Papua Guinea’s Department of Treasury said he was impressed by Vietnam’s meticulous preparations for the event. As his country will host the next event, Papua Guinea must learn a lot from those with significant experiences like Vietnam, he said.

John A Unware said technical cooperation among enterprises and financial education for local people will be priorities in the next event.

APEC is united in a drive to build a dynamic, sustainable and harmonious Asia-Pacific community by boosting free and open trade and investment, promoting and accelerating regional economic integration, encouraging economic and technical cooperation, and facilitating a favorable and sustainable business environment. APEC initiatives turn policy goals into concrete results and agreements into tangible benefits.

The idea of APEC was firstly publicly broached by former Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke during a speech in Seoul, the Republic of Korea on 31 January 1989. Ten months later, 12 Asia-Pacific economies met in Canberra, Australia, to establish APEC. The founding members were: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

China, Hong Kong (China) and Chinese Taipei joined in 1991. Mexico and Papua New Guinea followed in 1993. Chile acceded in 1994. And in 1998, Peru, Russia and Vietnam joined the forum, taking the full membership to 21.

This is the second time Vietnam has hosted the APEC Year after the first in 2006.

VNA