India’s The Economic Times newspaper has posted an article titled "APEC summit: Recognition of Vietnam's economic achievements and challenges ahead" by Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury. 

The newspaper hailed Vietnam as one of the fastest growing economies amid the global economic slowdown, saying it has attempted to harmonise interests, seek common ground to bridge differences, and promote cooperation among APEC members while hosting the APEC meeting.

“Today Vietnam is being counted as an economy of the future courtesy reforms undertaken by its ruling Communist Party over the past few decades. Starting from a small, and backward economy heavily devastated after more than 30 years of war, lagging far behind the region and the world and with extremely difficult living conditions, rapid development to improve people's lives, and strengthen the country was an urgent requirement for Vietnam”, the article said.

Vietnam is currently a middle-income developing country with progress achieved in industrialisation and modernisation. “The proportion of industry and services in GDP has increased, and agriculture in GDP structure has dropped. The economic growth model has initially shifted from broad-based development to deepening development. Vietnam’s national competitiveness has been improved.”

According to the article, the country has drawn some lessons to improve its leadership in rapid and sustainable development in the coming years. It has affirmed that rapid and sustainable development is a correct strategy that needs to be resolutely and persistently carried out.

The newspaper also noted that it is vital for Vietnam to step up theoretical study, attach importance to reviewing practices, especially new models and good experiences; regularly grasp and predict new developments, harmonise relationship between rapid and sustainable development, between immediate and long-term interests, between economic and social development; link economic growth with the realisation of social progress and equity, environment protection, consolidation of national defense and security.

Meanwhile, Algerian media said that APEC economies are facing many challenges like economic slowdown, growing protectionism, the fourth industrial revolution, and climate change.

As the host of this year’s APEC meetings, Vietnam stressed the need for the member economies to look for new driving forces for sustainable development, deepen regional cooperation and more importantly, achieve the Bogor Goals in free trade and investment by 2020, it said.

In an article entitled “Vietnam to host APEC summit amid challenges” on November 6, The Khmer Times of Cambodia said APEC is so far the largest economic cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, which shares 59 percent of the world’s GDP, 48 percent of global trade and 53 percent of the global FDI. 

Under the theme “Creating new dynamism, fostering a shared future”, the APEC Year 2017 outlined four priority areas – promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; deepening regional economic integration; strengthening competitiveness and the innovation of Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs); and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change.

“The main challenges of the upcoming APEC summit are how to foster open and inclusive global and regional economic governance, how to ensure open and fair regional trade arrangements, how to overcome the challenges stemming from climate change and the fourth industrial revolution and how to link trade with the realisation of the UN sustainable development goals,” the article cited.

The press in New Zealand quoted Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as saying that APEC is important to the country’s future economic development and the APEC 2017 Economic Leaders’ Meeting provides an opportunity to strengthen its commitment to the region and lay a foundation for its regional free trade agreements.

The New Zealand PM said addressing a number of contents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will be her priority at this week’s APEC meeting in Vietnam, adding that her government is striving to remove the pact’s investor-state dispute settlement clauses, which would allow foreign corporations to sue member states in disputes.-VNA