Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa Province will host the first amongst a series of events within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Viet Nam 2017.

Accordingly, Nha Trang will be playing host to the first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM 1) from February 18 to March 3 next year. SOM 1 will include more than 80 meetings with the participation of about 2,500 international delegates.

The resort city will also be the host for a meeting of APEC Deputy Finance Ministers and another of Deputy Governors of APEC Central Banks.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung who led a delegation to Khanh Hoa Province to inspect its preparations, said the APEC meetings will be important diplomatic events of Viet Nam in 2017.

He asked the provincial authorities to soon complete infrastructure and personnel preparations to ensure security, traffic and healthcare services during the approaching meetings, along with promoting the dissemination of information about these events.

Provincial officials assured that Nha Trang City has sufficient infrastructure and experience to organise the meetings. The province is planning to set up a steering committee for the organisation of the events.

Established in 1989, APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Thailand, the US and Viet Nam.

The year of 2017 marks the second time Viet Nam will be playing host to the APEC, following the first in 2006.

(Source: VNA)