APEC is always known as one of the most dynamic regions in the world.

The economic and trade relations among APEC member economies have witnessed remarkable developments in comparison with other regions in the world. Trade in goods and services recorded a 6.7-fold increase, totaling $20 trillion by 2015; average tariffs fell dramatically from 17% in 1989 to 5.6% in 2014, thanks to the strengthening of trade and investment relations, as well as a sharp increase in bilateral and regional free trade agreements (RTAs/FTAs).

Thanks to the positive impact of RTAs/FTAs, intra-regional trade in APEC grew at a rate of 274%, from $2.3 trillion to $6.3 trillion between 2000 and 2016. Particularly for Vietnam, APEC has played an increasingly important role in the deep integration and development of the economy of more than 90 million people. Currently, 78% of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam comes from APEC members; 75% of total trade in goods and 79% of international visitors to Vietnam originated from APEC economies. Since joining this forum, Vietnam has been integrating into APEC's joint efforts to accomplish the Bogor Goals.

According to Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, the completion of the Bogor Goals on Trade and Investment Liberalization in the region to 2020 has always been a top priority of APEC since 1994. Vietnam has been pursuing the policy on opening the economy, actively integrating into the regional and international economy; negotiating, signing and implementing many bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs/RTAs), promoting tariff and non-tariff barrier reduction, reform of mechanisms and policies to facilitate trade and investment environment, building fair and transparent business environment, etc. 

Along with that, Vietnam also realized its commitments to reduce tariffs and remove non-tariff barriers in accordance with the roadmap set out in the FTAs /RTAs in which Vietnam is a member. Efforts to liberalize and facilitate business in the service sector has also been recognized, particularly in the fields of construction, finance, transportation and others.

"As the host of APEC 2017, Vietnam continues to identify the acceleration of the completion of the Bogor Goals by 2020 is one of the important priorities of the APEC agenda. Vietnam has been working with APEC members to develop working programs for the period from now to 2020 in the areas of tariff, non-tariff, investment, services, rules of origin, etc. to address barriers to trade and investment in the region as outlined in the Mid-term Report on the Implementation of Bogor Goals. This is a strong message that affirms APEC's steadfast efforts towards trade and investment liberalization, in the face of a number of conflicting views, which oppose globalization and support trade protection in some parts of the world," Minister Tran Tuan Anh emphasized.

Many initiatives for Bogor Goals

In 2017, Vietnam also proposed several economic and trade initiatives to submit to the 29th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM29) in the key areas such as cross-border commerce and supporting industry. Vietnam, along with other APEC members, also promoted the initiative to improve supply chain performance, and increase the participation of small and medium enterprises in the global value chain, strengthen APEC connectivity and so on. These initiatives will actively promote trade and investment flows in the region, supporting the common efforts of APEC members towards fulfilling the Bogor Goals by 2020.

Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, former deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management and Research, said that the priorities proposed by Vietnam for APEC cooperation this year are in line with the the general trend of development within the block. Accordingly, as the trend of trade protection creates certain obstacles to economic integration, Vietnam has created a consensus among APEC members to ensure that the objectives of the forum are maintained. This is liberalization of trade and investment. Economist Le Dang Doanh said that the Minister of Industry and Trade had made appropriate proposals, which showed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade had a firm grasp of the linkages and strongly promoted cooperative trends in APEC.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the documents, initiatives and proposals of Vietnam in general and those of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in particular have been adopted at many SOM-level conferences and the APEC Committee for Trade and Investment (CTI). As the head of SOM Vietnam in APEC and co-chair of AMM 29, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent its staff to Da Nang very early to organize many consultative and advocacy meetings to call for the support of members of CTI to SOM for Vietnam’s initiatives; collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hold several sessions to negotiate important documents such as the Joint Declaration of AMM 29 and AELM 25 together with the content of major initiatives and proposals of Vietnam.

Thai Linh