HCM City (VNA) – Delegates to the third APEC SeniorOfficials’ Meeting (SOM3) and related meetings, which are scheduled to concludein Ho Chi Minh City on August 30 after more than ten days of working, haveapplauded Vietnam’s hosting of the meetings and APEC Year 2017, as well as thecountry’s initiatives.

Rory McLeod, Chair of the APEC Economic Committee (EC), said the organisationby Vietnam in 2017 has been super with well organised meetings and really good venues.

ValeryE.Sorokin, Ambassador-at-Large, Senior Official of Russia for APEC, said that Vietnam has done an excellent job asAPEC Year  2017 is going very well andsmoothly.

“The spirit of collaboration and search for collective actions and consensusare there,” he said, expressing his firm belief that there will be sound andpractical debates during the ASEAN Economic Leaders’ Week in the central cityof Da Nang in November. 

Peter MacArthur, Canadian Ambassador toTimor-Leste and Indonesia, said he and other delegates are very impressed by Vietnam’s ability, for the second time, to host APEC “very professionally, very focused and with extremely good logistical and organisationalrelationships.”

The country’s strong chairmanship, very good logistical support and clear agenda during the SOM 3 and related meetings help move APEC economies forward inpreparation for the leaders’ meetings in Da Nang, he said.

Ambassador Robert Holleyman, President and CEOof C&M International, LLC, said Vietnam’s hosting of APEC this year is a bigsignal that the country wants to integrate with other economies in the region.

RegardingVietnam’s initiatives in APEC Year 2017, Alan Bollard, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, said “Vietnam got four important priorities through the year. We have been going througha lot of meetings to help develop all of those. We are getting to a stage nowwhere we have to be very specific about what APEC can deliver. It is veryimportant stuff in a quite complicated year, and so far it has been going verywell.”

“Vietnam’s priorities in general are about helping continue this big story about regional economicintegration and getting benefits from trade, but also now making sure that they happens all around the region and not just tosome economies or for some people,” he said.

♏[Vietnam’s hosting of APEC Food Security Week hailed]

“Some of the priorities are quite new for us and it’s a big challenge,but Vietnam has really focused us all on that,” he stressed.

EC Chair RoryMcLeod also held that themesand priorities for APEC 2017 are very clear, ambitious and usefulfor APEC.

Meanwhile, Tsutomu Koizumi, APECSenior Official of Japan, said at APEC 2017, Vietnam has provided excellentagendas and priorities, hailing the country’s efforts to enable APEC officialsto do a good job.

“Westarted to think about the so-called "possible goals of 2020". WhatAPEC needs in future is to promote economic and investment cooperation withinour region in order to inspire the rest of the world about what could bepossible in terms of global prosperity. I think Vietnam had the excellent idea of establishing a so-called APEC Vision Groupgathering persons from APEC economies to think about, promote and ask seniorofficials to establish possible goals,” he said.

Canadian Ambassador MacArthur said the four priorities raised by Vietnam are aligned with these of the Canadian Government, stressing that the country’s ideas have helped other APEC members moveforward in terms of economic development.

Vietnam’s four priorities are promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; deepening regional economic integration; strengthening competitivenessand innovation of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the digital age; and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculturein response to climate change.-VNA