This is the second time the Philippines hosted the APEC summit after nearly two decades since the conference in Subic in 1996. Philippine President Benigno Aquino has chaired to welcome the Heads and Senior leaders of the 20 economic member countries. High-level delegation of our country led by President Truong Tan Sang attended the Conference.
In the opening speech, Philippine President Benigno Aquino stressed that the significance of the Conference on the theme "Overall economic development, building a better world", he affirmed that in the new international face, APEC continues to be a top economic cooperation mechanism in the region, deeper cooperation and contribute strongly to ensure sustained growthin the region and in the world.
The Speaking in the APEC 2015, President Sang noted that region has experienced a rapid transformation to boost quality development. He called on APEC member economies to continually foster regional economic integration towards sustainable development goals and focus closer cooperation on reducing poverty, development gap and disaster risk; ensuring food security; and developing sustainable agriculture and green tourism. The APEC economies also need to bolster economic and technical cooperation and support for improved capability of developing members, particularly in new-generation economy and trade, the President added. APEC members and enterprises should become more involved in sub-regional and regional integration schemes, notably the ASEAN and Mekong, he said.
Highlighting Vietnam's contributions to fostering APEC and regional economic integration, President Sang said Vietnam has learnt major lessons from 30 years of the “Doi moi” (Renewal) process, which show economic growth is fueled by greater integration while the determinant of sustainable and inclusive growth is reform, particularly reforms of economic system, human resources and infrastructure. The lessons learned is that it must promote economic integration to develop. Towards hosting APEC 2017, Vietnam will continue to accompany with the member economies to promote economic integration for a prosper Asia - Pacific region.
