APEC targets long-term infrastructure funding
The other three areas were: Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS); disaster risk financing and insurance; and financial inclusion.
The two-day meeting was co-chaired by Vice Minister of Finance Trần Xuân Hà and Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyễn Thị Hồng.
They said hosting the FCBDM was an important milestone in the Viet Nam’s chairmanship of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process in particular and APEC Việt Nam 2017 in general.
APEC 2017 SOM1 (Senior Officials Meeting) Chair Bùi Thanh Sơn said the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process (FMP) played a crucial and indispensable role in APEC co-operation.
"The Cebu Action Plan goal of building an APEC community that is more financially integrated, transparent, resilient, and connected, is vital to support strong, sustainable, inclusive and balanced growth in the region," he said.
He noted that the APEC SOM1 and SFOM (Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting) were also mutually supportive and complementary as both address several areas including infrastructure, infrastructure investment for food security, financial services, women’s economic empowerment, finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), human resources development and disaster risk reduction.
Delegates discussed recent economic and financial developments in the region so as to identify appropriate policy responses for APEC economies to cope with the global economic volatilities and set co-operation priorities for the 2017 APEC FMP.
The Finance and Central Bank Deputies also agreed on implementing and reviewing the Cebu Action Plan and reforming the APEC FMP.
They concurred that financial co-operation among APEC members should focus more on practical and efficient activities besides meetings and seminars.
They also set a tentative date of May, 2017 for the APEC senior finance officials to meet.
