A photo of the meeting. (Source: VNA)The APEC Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting (SFOM) officially opened in the northern province of Ninh Binh on May 18.
This is an important mid-term meeting that reviews the progress of cooperation activities and proposes deliverables to the Finance Ministers Meeting in October, Vu Nhu Thang, Director of the International Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Finance, who is also SFOM Chair 2017, said in his opening remarks.
On the first day of the meeting, officials are reviewing the global and regional economic and financial outlooks, discussing upside and downside risks that the Asia-Pacific region is facing, and forecasting regional prospects in coming time. They are also reviewing the implementation progress of the Cebu Action Plan.
During the two-day meeting, APEC senior financial officials are scheduled to continue discussing and assessing the progress of realising cooperation priorities initiated by Vietnam and approved at the APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting in Khanh Hoa province’s Nha Trang city in February.
The four prioritised subjects include long-term investment in infrastructure, base erosion and profit shifting, disaster risk financing and insurance, and cooperation in the comprehensive financial field.
2017 is the first year the regional economies implement the APEC Strategy for Modernisation of Finance Ministers Process adopted at the Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Peru last year. The realisation of four financial cooperation priorities during the year not only attaches to the national priorities but also contributes to effectively implementing the strategy, towards practical benefits for the whole region./.