President Sang said the APEC economies have never before shared so many interests and responsibilities in promoting economic integration and sustaining peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, sustaining the role of the region as an engine of global economic recovery and working together toward sustainable growth and prosperity by jointly addressing the challenges of climate change, energy security, food security, natural disasters, exhaustion of natural resources, and development gaps. President Sang said that in today’s rapidly and unpredictably changing regional and global landscape, Vietnam has a strong desire to join other APEC members in shouldering those huge responsibilities. Sang says “As Vietnam embarks on a new strategic phase of development, we are pushing forward continued comprehensive reform, economic restructuring, active and intensive international integration in which economic integration serves as a foundation for accelerating industrialisation and modernisation. Against such a backdrop, the Asia-Pacific region in general and APEC in particular have increasingly become of paramount importance to Vietnam. Vietnam's interests have been intertwined with those of the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from economic growth to foreign policy, security and development. Most of the strategic partners and partners of strategic importance of Vietnam are located in this region’.

Sang said  the Asia-Pacific now leads Vietnam’s foreign direct investment (FDI), accounting for 65% of the country’s total FDI, 75% of its foreign tourists as well as 60% of its exports and 80% of its imports. Sang reiterated that one of Vietnam’s major policy orientations is to enhance economic cooperation and bonds within the frameworks of the sub-region, South East Asia, APEC, and greater Asia-Pacific region. President Sang stresses ‘Vietnam is honoring its international commitments to facilitation and liberalisation in trade, investment and services, to carrying out regional connectivity programs towards building the ASEAN Community, promoting economic synergies between ASEAN and its partners, and to implementing the Bogor Goals. Eleven out of 13 Free Trade Agreements that Vietnam has signed or is negotiating are with partners from this region. We are now actively engaged with regional partners in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. We have just launched FTA negotiations with the Republic of Korea and will soon begin FTA negotiations with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan’.

Sang said these agreements constitute a basis on which to broaden and intensify Vietnam’s regional cooperation and integration, to engage more deeply in the region’s supply chain and, more importantly, to contribute to sustaining the dynamism of our Asia-Pacific region. In regard to internal affairs, Vietnam is making every effort to maintain macro-economic stability, sustain growth momentum and implement the Master Plan on economic restructuring. Steps are being taken to restructure public investment, state corporations, commercial banks, and financial institutions. Strong efforts are also being made to fight corruption, promote administrative reform with a view to enhancing stability and transparency of economic policies, and to complete the legal framework for business and investment. 

President Sang said that over the past 25 years of Vietnam’s renewal process, APEC members have supported Vietnam. At the critical juncture and in the years ahead, Sang expressed his hope to continue to receive international support, especially recommendations in policy-making process as well as implementation of measures and solutions to the above-mentioned economic issues. He said the Vietnamese Government will continue to do its utmost to create the most favourable and sound environment for business and investment in Vietnam as a thriving and prosperous Vietnam will contribute meaningfully to fostering the dynamism and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.