The 25^th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting officially opened in Da Nang on Saturday morning under the chair of Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang.

State President Quang presiding over the Meeting (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)

The Meeting was attended by the leaders of 20 APEC member economies.  They included US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, Australian Prime Minister (PM) Malcolm Turnbull, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet,  Chief Executive of China’s Hong Kong Carrie Lam, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae In, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, Papua New Guinea PM Peter O’Neil, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, Head of Chinese Taipei’s delegation James Soong, and Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha.

State President Quang (right) and US President Donald Trump (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)

In his opening speech at the Meeting, Vietnamese State President Quang remarked that over the past 25 years, the world, and the Asia-Pacific region in particular, have saw profound changes in economic and international relations, and the balance of power.  However, with the strategic vision to promote economic cooperation as the foundation of APEC and a focus on removing barriers to trade and investment, the region has recorded numerous remarkable achievements.

Domestic and international reporters watching the Meeting on a large screen (Photo: Son Trung)

In particular, APEC has shown its dynamism, adaptability and self-transformation to become the premier regional economic forum, and a driver of global growth and integration.  Furthermore, APEC has played a leading role in addressing urgent global challenges. 

The Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment, and support for the multilateral trade system, along with the growth and connectivity strategies and programmes, have provided long-term orientations for APEC’s activities, and unfolded hundreds of concrete areas of cooperation, including the next generation trade and investment issues.  This, thereby, has helped the whole region meet the requirements of the current context of the digital era.

State President Quang also underlined the need for APEC to secure its pioneering role in creating new  impetuses for growth, trade, investment and connectivity amongst its member economies, as well as to facilitate the whole region’s people to equally enjoy the great benefits of globalisation and economic connectivity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chief Executive of China’s Hong Kong Carrie Lam (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)

After the President's remarks, the attendees proceeded with the first Retreat Session, themed ‘Innovative Growth, Inclusion and Sustainable Employment in the Digital Age’.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Pilipino counterpart, Mr Rodrigo Duterte (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)

In the afternoon of the same day, the participants focussed discussions about the Second Retreat, themed ‘New Drivers for Regional trade, Investment and Connectivity’.

Between the 2 Retreat sessions, the participating leaders had a working lunch, discussing the topic of ‘Fostering a Shared Future'.

At the end of the event, there were a ceremony to hand over the APEC Chairmanship to Papua New Guinea and an international press conference on the Meeting.