Hanoi (VNA) 🅺– Since Vietnam joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 1998, the country has actively engaged in and made effective contributions in all aspects to the forum’s operations.

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife will lead a high-level delegation from Vietnam to attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Week in San Francisco, the US, and engage in bilateral activities in the country from November 14-17 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.

The President’s trip is taking place in the context of APEC marking 30 years since the first APEC Economic Leaders Meeting was held and Vietnam is celebrating the 25^th anniversary of its APEC membership.

For Vietnam, the Asia-Pacific region and APEC forum has been among important priorities in the country’s external policy and efforts to strengthen multilateral external relations, contributing to protecting and promoting its interests in security and development, and enhancing the country’s global position. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung, President Thuong’s attendance in the coming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week in the US this year demonstrates Vietnam’s support for multilateralism in general and the APEC process in particular. Vietnam has left many bold marks in the development process of the APEC forum, contributing to promoting peace, stability, cooperation, and regional economic integration, maintaining APEC's role as a leading economic linkage mechanism in Asia-Pacific. Notably, Vietnam has been among few members to successfully host the APEC Year twice in 2006 and 2017.

Vietnam’s imprints as APEC host

On June 15, 1996, the Government of Vietnam submitted an application to join APEC. On November 15, 1998, APEC announced the official admission of three new members, including Vietnam, Russia and Peru. Eight years later, in 2006, Vietnam assumed the role of APEC host for the first time. With more than 100 activities culminating during the APEC Summit Week in mid-November 2006, it was a successful event bearing the mark of Vietnam. In the year, Vietnam chose the theme of "Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity" for the APEC Year. During the APEC Leaders’ Week in November 2006, APEC economic leaders defined the possibility of forming a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), paving the way for a strategic vision of economic integration across the region. Currently, FTAAP is still identified as one of the region's directions in the next two decades.

The 14^th✨ APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Hanoi adopted three documents with important role in the forum’s development – the Hanoi Action Plan to implement the Busan Roadmap towards the Bogor Goal; the APEC reform package; and commitments to cooperation in human security, human resources development, structural reforms, and support to developing members in enhancing integration capacity.

Eleven years later, 2017 was the second time Vietnam played host to APEC, with 243 organised activities, attracting the participation of more than 21,000 delegates.  The APEC Year 2017 was themed Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future, during which Vietnam chaired and coordinated with members to promote many major cooperation contents. The event created new driving forces for sustainable, creative and inclusive growth, promoting trade liberalisation, investment and regional connectivity, and consolidating APEC's leadership role in global economic and trade governance and respond to common challenges. The role and contributions of Vietnam were highlighted with its initiative to discuss the building of an APEC post-2020 Vision. Through the APEC Vision Group, in 2020, 21 member economies shaped the APEC Vision 2040 and adopted the Aotearoa Plan of Action to implement the vision by 2021. In addition, Vietnam carved its imprint with the success of the first dialogue between APEC leaders and ASEAN, as well as Vietnam's active contribution to promoting the formation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) during APEC Economic Leaders’ Week Da Nang 2017.

Vietnam -  Active, positive, responsible member of APEC

Besides successfully hosting APEC twice, Vietnam has always been one of the most active members in proposing initiatives and projects, with more than 100 projects in a variety of fields. Many initiatives proposed by Vietnam were evaluated as practical, meeting common concerns, especially those on sustainable and inclusive development. They also involved cross-border e-commerce facilitation, green, sustainable and innovative micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development, food security, climate change response, economic empowerment for women, and rural and urban area development. Vietnam has affirmed its role in managing and speeding up the implementation of APEC cooperation through undertaking important positions in the forum’s mechanisms. Notably, Vietnam acted as Executive Director of APEC Secretariat (2005-2006), Chair of the ASEAN Group at APEC, and Chair/Deputy Chair of many important committees and working groups of the forum. In the 2016-2018 period alone, Vietnam took on the role of Chair and Vice Chair of 18 Committees and Working Groups of APEC and ABAC. Since successfully playing the role of host of APEC 2017, Vietnam has continued to participate in and actively contribute to APEC cooperation, promoting the implementation of important results of APEC 2017, especially through the initiative to build the APEC Vision 2040. During COVID-19 pandemic period, Vietnam showed active engagement in the forum and proposed many solutions to prevent supply chain disruptions and ensure the import and export markets of regional economies. It also promoted experience sharing and policy coordination in implementing economic and financial solutions to overcome the crisis, and strengthened measures to support businesses and people to overcome difficulties. Vietnam was one of the leading members promoting APEC's commitment to cooperate in sharing COVID-19 vaccines. This served to ensure equitable distribution and access to vaccines in an effective manner and at a reasonable cost. The country also called on members to commit to voluntarily transferring vaccine production technology to expand the scale of vaccine production and supply, aiming for community immunity. In 2022, Vietnam successfully performed the role of Chair of ASEAN Group in APEC, contributing to promoting solidarity and upholding ASEAN role in regional cooperation. It can be seen that over the past 25 years, Vietnam has actively engaged in APEC development and made effective contributions to the process in all cooperation aspects, winning strong confidence and high evaluation of other members in the forum. Vietnam is participating in APEC Economic Leaders’ Week 2023 with an increasingly enhanced position, continuing to clearly demonstrate its role as a dynamic, responsible member, actively and effectively contributing to the development of the forum on all areas of cooperation./.