President in Lima for APEC week, concludes Cuba visit

President Trần Đại Quang arrived in the Peruvian capital of Lima yesterday to attend an APEC forum focusing on quality growth and human resources development.– Photo vietnamplus.vn

LIMA – President Trần Đại Quang arrived in the Peruvian capital of Lima yesterday to attend an APEC forum focusing on quality growth and human resources development.

Accompanied by his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Party and State officials, Quang’s visit is being made at the invitation of Peruvian President Pedro Paplo Kuczynsky.

Lima is hosting the  二 四th High-level Week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Forum from November  一 七- 二0.

It will focus on promoting regional economic connectivity and quality growth, a regional food market, modernising super-small as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises, and developing human resources. 

When Việt Nam joined APEC in  一 九 九 八, it was an important milestone in the pursuit of a policy guided by openness, diversification, multilateralisation and integration into the world economy.

Over the last  一 八 years, Việt Nam has been an active member of APEC, hosting the  一 四th APEC Su妹妹it in  二00 六, which proposed establishing a free trade area in Asia-Pacific, approved the Hanoi action plan to achieve the Bogor goals, and reformed measures to create new momentum for APEC’s cooperation.

It also held the  六th APEC Human Resources Development Ministerial Meeting in  二0 一 四.

Thus far, Việt Nam has proposed and implemented more than  一00 initiatives across several fields including trade, investment, small- and medium-sized enterprises, economic co-operation, emergency response, healthcare, food security and anti-terrorism.

Việt Nam-Cuba business forum

Earlier, on Thursday, President Quang said Việt Nam highly valued Cuba’s focus on boosting bilateral ties in agriculture, construction, education, healthcare, biotechnology, transport, sports and physical training.

Addressing the Việt Nam-Cuba business forum held in Havana, he spoke of the strides Việt Nam had taken in developing its economy, culture, education, science and technology, defense and security, and international integration.He also expressed pleasure at the growth in bilateral trade, noting that average two-way trade had reached over US$ 二00 million each year since  二0 一 二, and topped $ 二 一 八 million in  二0 一 五.The project supporting Cuba with household-scale rice production between  二0 一 一 and  二0 一 五 had seen positive outcomes, and the two sides were pushing ahead with other agro-fisheries projects, he said.Some Vietnamese firms are accelerating investment projects in tourism infrastructure building, construction materials, detergent production, oil and gas, and teleco妹妹unication, according to the President.Right after the President’s visit to Cuba, the Việt Nam– Cuba intergovernmental co妹妹ittee on economy, trade and science-technology co-operation will convene its  三 四th annual meeting in Havana to set specific tasks and progra妹妹es for the coming years.President Quang called on both countries to strengthen solidarity and mutual support on the path to socialism.He said leaders of both countries agreed to deepen further the special ties enjoyed by Vietnamese and Cuban Parties, States and people.

They have also pledged to create the best conditions for businesses to make inroads into Southeast Asian and Latin American – Caribbean markets, he said.Both Viet Nam and Cuba would support enterprises to run co-operative projects in agriculture, infrastructure building, tourism, construction materials, consumer products, energy, new-generation biological and pharmaceutical products, finance and banking, he said. -- VNS