During the 24 years of its membership of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Vietnam has made active and proactive contributions to the forum, thus helping promote regional peace, stability, cooperation and economic linkage, according to Director of Multilateral Trade Policy Department under Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Luong Hoang Thai.

In a recent interview granted to the Vienam News Agency, Thai said Vietnam successfully served as the host of APEC in 2006 and 2017, and contributions made by Vietnam since 2017 are still considered important orientations for APEC cooperation in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It proposed more than 100 projects across fields. Many of the initiatives by Vietnam have met common interests, especially in terms of sustainable and inclusive development, human resources development in the digital era, promoting digital economy, and facilitating cross-border e-commerce.

Thai said, APEC basically aims to trade and investment liberalisation, thereby boosting the economic growth of one of the most dynamic regions.

Notably, Vietnam has made specific contributions to promote programmes proposed by Thailand - the host of APEC 2022, especially solutions to restore supply chains that have been broken under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as addressing post-pandemic difficulties.

To promote energy transition and application of green and clean technology to balance economic development and maintain environmental protection and respond to climate change, Vietnam has joined other countries in sketching out specific cooperation frameworks, towards stable and sustainable development of the region, he said.  

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are seen as important elements to promote investment and trade liberalisation within APEC, and the MoIT has also significantly contributed to forming FTAs, Thai noted.

The MoIT has always actively participated in business cooperation activities within APEC and also taken specific initiatives in the framework of the cooperation mechanism, he noted.

Vietnam is one of the countries active in proposing and implementing the initiative on trade liberalisation in environmental goods and services, thus contributing to joint cooperation frameworks and programmes.

Vietnam and the MoIT in particular have also joined other initiatives related to energy development, and seaport connection to facilitate the transport of goods in the region./.