Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is ready to host the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) Year 2017 with all preparations being basically completed onschedule, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said in an interview to thepress.

Son,who is also ViceChairman of the National Committee on APEC 2017 and Chair of the Senior Officials'Meeting (SOM) APEC 2017, said after nearly two decades of joining the APECForum, this is the second time Vietnam has been assigned to host the event, reflectingthe international community’s trust in the country.

The hosting of the APEC Year 2017 creates a greatopportunity for Vietnam to strengthen relations with regional partners andenhance its role and position in the international arena, he said, describingthe APEC Year 2017 as the largest external event hosted by Vietnam from now to2020.

Close to 200 activities of different scales focusingon the theme “Creating a new driving force for a common future”will take place across 10 cities and provinces from the north to the southduring this year, with the most important event – the APEC High-level Week – tobe held in the central coastal city of Da Nang in November, he noted.

Vietnam embarked on the preparations for the eventthree years ago, Son said, adding that the country had actively exchanged viewsand coordinated with the previous hosts of APEC in 2014 and 2015 to learn theirexperience in the field.

The National Committee on APEC 2017 was established inJuly 2015 under the chair of Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Pham BinhMinh and the involvement of 24 ministries, agencies and localities, he added.

The establishment of five sub-committees in charge ofcontents, facilities and logistics, security and health, communication andculture, and reception is essential to ensuring the overall coordination of allpreparatory steps, Son said.

Vietnam has soon completed long-term orienteddocuments for preparing the event from selecting locations to host the APEC High-levelWeek and other main activities this year, as well as proposing the theme andpriorities for the function.

Son also highlighted challenges in the APEC Year 2017amid regional and global complicated and unpredictable developments.

According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, the biggestobstacle for APEC members in general and Vietnam in particular is how tomaintain the APEC Forum’s role as a leading economic connectivity andcooperation mechanism in the region to fuel the growth and prosperity in theAsia-Pacific.

The other challenge is to accelerate trade andinvestment liberalisation in the region, including the realisation of the“Bogor Goals” by 2020 asscheduled, in the context that protectionism is emerging in a number ofeconomies.

Anotherdefiance is to increase the forum’s contributions to the settlement of globalchallenges such as generating jobs, narrowing inequality, coping with climatechange, preventing terrorism, ensuring food security, and addressing agingpopulation and migration crisis.

However,the above-said situation will also open up new opportunities for cooperationamong the forum member economies, Son said, noting that the demand for cooperationand connectivity between regions and between Asian-Pacific countries isincreasing as the regional and world peaceful environment and development arebeing threatened.

Afternearly three decades of development, the number of APEC committees and workinggroups has increased by three folds to about 50, covering various fields, fromeconomic affairs, trade, sustainable development, narrowing development gap, andfood and energy security.

TheAsia-Pacific has remained a leading region in terms of dynamic development withmany member economies playing a key role in boosting global economic growth andconnectivity, Son said.

Withthe principles of win-win and voluntary cooperation, the APEC Forum ispioneering in the liberalisation of trade and investment, which supportssmall-and medium-sized enterprises to increase their competitiveness and joinglobal supply value chains and digital economy.

Theregional trade facilitation has also reaped positive results, helping to reduce trade transaction costs between the APECmember economies by 12 percent between 2010-2014, he cited.

Vietnamis one of the leading APEC member economies in terms of economic growth and regionalconnectivity, Son said, adding that despite the global economic downturn in thefirst eight months of 2016, Vietnam was still among few APEC economies whichsuccessfully maintained the export growth.

TheVietnamese Government is comprehensively and synchronously speeding up reformand economic restructuring in combination with changing the growth model.

Withthe engagement in such large-scale free trade agreements as the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and FreeTrade Agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union, Vietnam has become animportant link in an extensive economic connectivity network of 59 partners,including 18 APEC members, he added.-VNA