Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has had an articlethemed “A dynamic, integrated and growing Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific,” on theoccasion of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week taking place in central Da Nang city fromNovember 6-11.

Following is the full text of the article.

“On 15 November1998, Vietnam joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Thisis a milestone in the country’s comprehensive development, laying the foundationfor Vietnam’s dynamic and proactive international integration.

“Thanks to reforms over the last 30 years, Vietnamese economic growth has grownnearly 7 percent each year, much higher than global growth rates. Until now, Vietnamhas attracted 310 billion USD of FDI, in which 165 billion USD was disbursed. 80percent of FDI in Vietnam comes from within the Asia-Pacific region. Vietnam hasestablished 26 strategic and comprehensive partnerships with other countries, includingmajor economies in the Asia-Pacific and ASEAN. Vietnam has 16 FTAs eithersigned or under negotiation, clearly showing a strong and consistent policy todeepen international integration and further promote trade liberalisation inthe region and the world.

“We view that reforms to better tap internal resources will be the mostimportant factor to national prosperity. Given the globalisation and the forthindustrial revolution, the Vietnamese Government, an enabling government, commitsto introduce flexible management mechanisms and promote transparent marketaccess, advanced labour standards, legitimate business interests and unceasinginnovation. Policy development must reflect the real needs, the trend oftechnology and globalisation to be adaptable to newbusiness models as well as the demand to improve the economy’s competitivenessand comparative advantages in the regional and global market. According to the WorldBank in its October 2017 report, Vietnam has increased its ranking by 14notches in terms of Doing Business index to 68 out of 190 countries. Theeconomy has jumped up by 5 notches in terms of the Global Competitive Index to55 out of 137 countries according to WEF report in September 2017.

“In designing its national development strategy, Vietnam has emphasised the roleof the private sector as an important driver of the economy. Accordingly, theGovernment commits to take action to enhance competitive advantages, including:institutions and policies; infrastructure; sound financial systems; educationreform; improving the quality of human resources; enhancing healthcare services;health and social insurance; and investing in basic research, to name a few. Webelieve that we will realise the target of one million businesses in 2020 andbring the Vietnamese private sector, along with other economic sectors, to anew height, with the competitiveness and ability to integrate at the regionaland global level.

“Additionally, Vietnam also actively seeks her own solutions to address issuesthat hinder the international integration process, including tax evasion, pricetransfer, outdated technologies, protectionism and terrorism among others. Atthe same time, we are proactively implementing global agreements on sustainabledevelopment and climate change, thus making substantive contributions tobuilding and influencing multilateral mechanisms, in particular Asia-Pacificregional cooperation mechanisms.

“We are seeing an emerging trend in Vietnam: the shift from a GDP-centric growthmodel to one based on quality, inclusive and sustainable growth. Notably, for Vietnam,implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its commitmentsto the COP-21 Paris Agreement on limiting emission as well as the protection ofthe environment, are both measures of, and drivers for, development in thecoming decades.

“The air of reform is now being strongly felt across the Pacific Rim and giventhe importance of APEC in the region, its member economies will play anintegral role in shaping regional economic and development achievements in the21st century. Accordingly, we need to look to the future and start building anew vision for the APEC framework today. The framework needs to consider economiccooperation along with cooperation in non-economic areas, namely culture, theenvironment, science and technology and education for instance, in which humanresource development takes the center stage and will be the driver that decidesnew cooperation frameworks and structures. In other words, APEC needs to play aleadership role in establishing the new international economic cooperationframework with a new governance model, a new agenda and a new cooperativearchitecture.

“Within the context of APEC, the rise of some economies should not be a threat,but instead be an opportunity to build good partnerships, provide brightinspiration and share useful lessons for other countries and economies on theroad to success.

“Against the backdrop of emerging economic cooperation initiatives, forums andframeworks, APEC needs to build an identity of its own, a mechanism to reach ahigh unanimity within its members. Certain disputes and challenges to the environment and energy, andseveral others have yet been settled. Given this reality, all APEC members needsto work together to come up with innovative approaches to establish a unity indiversity that is constructive, equitable, mutually beneficial and in line withinternational law.

“An united, peaceful, prosperous Asia-Pacific for sustainable development needsto be the common goal and responsibility that requires the united and jointefforts of all APEC economies, large or small, developed or developing, in thePacific Rim.

“During the coming days, Vietnam welcomes Economic Leaders from all APEC economiesto the APEC Economic Leaders' Week, held in Da Nang. This is an important opportunityfor Vietnam to further promote the trade liberalisation process, and for membereconomies to better understand the Vietnamese people and business climate.

“It is our hope that, on this occasion, through your wisdom and vision, the economicleaders of the 21 APEC member economies will find the best solutions to createnew dynamism, foster a shared future together.” - VNA