Da Nang (VNA) - The government andpeople of Vietnam have done excellent preparation for APEC 2017 and Papua NewGuinea wants to learn from Vietnam, said Rimbink Pato Obe, Minister of ForeignAffairs and Trade of Papua New Guinea, host of APEC 2018.

Talking to a Vietnam News Agency reporter on the sidelines of the 29th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in the central city of Da Nang on November 8,the minister elaborated that he enjoys his stay in Vietnam and the service hereis fantastic.

He also affirmed “everything in terms of preparation for the next APEC Year inPapua New Guinea is on track”.

Papua New Guinea sets three key areas: improving connectivity, deepeningregional economic integration; promoting inclusive and sustainable growth; and strengtheningeconomic growth through structural reform as priorities for next year’s APEC, herevealed.

Regarding the AMM’s recommendations to be submitted to the APEC Economic Leaders’Meeting on November 10, Rimbink Pato Obe said all of them are important.

“We are members of the APEC community, we are part of inclusiveness, part ofconnectivity, trade liberalisation, inflow and outflow investment, trade withinthe APEC economies so anything enhances trade and investment between APECeconomies we will support,” he said.

He also said he expects all recommendations to be adopted because APEC’s futurewill go through all of them.

“If there is a challenge in relation to one or two recommendations, I think ourleaders are working on it and we are looking for them reaching consensus,” henoted.
Talking about relations with Vietnam, the diplomatsaid “Vietnam is a country of great history and we want to learn from it”.

Vietnam has coffee, cocoa, some of the fisheries and training facilities thathis country is in need, as a result, Papua New Guinea wants to connect betternow with Vietnam, he added.

The APEC Economic Leaders’ Week from November 6-11 is drawing around10,000 delegates from the 21 APEC member economies.

Established in 1989, APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China,Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico,New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore,Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.


It represents 39 percent of the world population, 57 percentof the world GDP and 47 percent of the total trade.-VNA