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Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh
This morning, speaking at the opening session of the Workshop on the priorities of APEC in 2017, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh emphasized, 10 years after Vietnam held the first APEC Summit, the world today has changed constantly. The new technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution has completely changed the way we live, link and interact.
However, the global financial crisis in 2009 has made the world more unstable and challenges are growing and becoming more diverse. The impact of the global financial crisis has spread far and no region and no country can avoid it.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh also warned that the global economy is experiencing the lowest development stage since the global financial crisis occurred due to the impact of geopolitical conflicts, terrorism, trans-national crime, cyber security, inequality, poverty, diseases and climate change.
Facing these challenges, despite their reform efforts, the APEC economies have yet to achieve the target as expected.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh called on APEC to more quickly adapt to the great changes in the world, solving the challenges mentioned above through deeper cooperation. He hoped that APEC 2017 will focus on the areas that benefit the people and businesses of the economies in the region.
At the workshop, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh announced the four important goals that APEC member economies must achieve, including:
Firstly, APEC should promote sustainable growth, creativity and embrace, in which structural reforms should be a priority of APEC to promote productivity growth, creative growth and narrowing the development gap; enhancing resilience to economic, financial shocks and volatility, as well as natural disasters and epidemics.
Secondly, APEC should promote connectivity and extensive regional integration.
Thirdly, stepping into the digital era, APEC should support microenterprises, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to enhance competitiveness, innovation and participation in global value chains. Accounting for more than 97% of all firms in the region, MSMEs are important engines for growth and job creation.
Fourthly, before the unprecedented impact of climate change, the APEC economies should enhance food security and sustainable agricultural development; promote the transfer and application of new technologies to improve productivity, quality and sustainability of agriculture. Specifically, APEC should promote trade and investment in the field of agriculture, promote rural development in a creative way.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that, in a turbulent world, APEC should strengthen its role as the mechanism that initiates new idea and impetus for economic growth and integration; confirm its global role in coordinating regional economic links; support the open, transparent and covering multilateral trading systems.
Looking back 27 years of establishment and development of APEC, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said that the APEC has proven its vitality, especially in difficult times.
He suggested that the workshop participants focus the discussion on finding the priorities for APEC in 2017 on the basis of promoting the results achieved in Peru and in the previous years to continue to promote joint efforts, especially the implementation of APEC's strategy of quality growth, connectivity and competitiveness in the service sector.
The APEC Year 2017 should follow the above long-term efforts, focus on the areas that bring about practical benefits for citizens and businesses, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh instructed.
Bich Thuy
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