Event

ĐÀ NẴNG — The 2017 APEC CEO Summit is an event of the largest scale for the regional business community, President Trần Đại Quang said in his speech marking the opening of the three-day event at Đà Nẵng’s Ariyana Convention Centre on Wednesday afternoon.

Addressing some 2,000 top regional business leaders, the President said their presence was evidence of their responsibility and zeal towards building a more prosperous Asia Pacific region.

“With the theme “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future” and a varied yet practical dialogue, I believe this year’s summit will open up new doors for co-operation and development,” Quang said.

Reviewing the development of the region after nearly three decades of growth, he said not only has APEC witnessed many fundamental changes in the world, but it has also been part of these changes.

“As the top regional economic cooperation mechanism, APEC has achieved important socio-economic progress, bringing hundreds of millions people out of poverty. It has proven to be the most important cooperation mechanism, making the Asia Pacific region the driving force behind global growth and integration, and a ground for new ideas for the future,” the President told delegates.

“Being here at this forum, I ask enterprises to increase support and collaboration and member economies to invest more heavily in the education sector, so that economies and labour force can adapt better to the new economic environment,” Quang said.

Vũ Tiến Lộc, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman and president, the event’s host, meanwhile, called the summit a place where “giants” meet and think-tanks combine.

“The summit welcomes President Trần Đại Quang, US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, together with leaders from APEC member economies whose GDPs account for 60 per cent of the world’s GDP,” Lộc said.

“It is expected that the visions of these leaders would determine the world and APEC’s future economy path,” he stressed.

Some 15 sessions will be held during the three-day summit. The three sessions on Wednesday featured nine speakers, including Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank’s vice president for the East Asia and Pacific; Philipp Rosler, managing director of the World Economic Forum; Robert E.Morits, PwC’s global chairman; and Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group’s president.

The session titled “Game Changer Presentation” will feature Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, an online news site based in the Philippines that also uses social media sites for news distribution.

The other sessions include “The future and globalisation” and “The Future of Work.” The latter will feature a Vietnamese speaker, Nguyễn Đức Thuận, chairman of TBS Group.

US President Donald Trump will deliver a keynote address on November 10, which is the last day of the summit. — VNS