Nearly 40 foreign ministers from APEC member economies attended a closed-door session of the 18th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Hanoi on November 15 to discuss practical measures to strengthen the multilateral trade system including resuming the Doha talks.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet welcomed delegates to the fourth APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in Hanoi on November 14 and urged them to make further contributions to building APEC into a dynamic community for sustainable development and prosperity.

The Doha round, the Hanoi Action Plan on the Busan Roadmap to Achieve the Bogor Goals, APEC reform package and decisive policies to make APEC more dynamic are important issues which were considered by APEC senior officials for approval, says Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister and Chair of Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) Le Cong Phung.

Since its inception in November 1995, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) has participated in all APEC meetings to enhance its role in the grouping, president of ABAC 2006 Hoang Van Dung told VOVNews in a recent interview prior to the ABAC Conference in Hanoi this week.

The current Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting (CSOM) began a plenary session on November 13 with a focus on trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, economic and technical cooperation, human security and other important issues.

Currently, 16 out of 21 APEC member economies are investing in 5,681 valid projects with a total registered capital of more than US$41.7 billion, accounting for 73 percent of total foreign investments in Vietnam.

Senior officials of member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) convened the Concluding Senior Officials' Meeting (CSOM) at the National Conference Centre in Hanoi on November 12. This activity is a start of a host of events to take place during the 14th APEC Economic Leaders' Week from November 12-19.

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi, has launched a week-long campaign of wearing ao dai (traditional long dress of Vietnamese women) among the union's women members to welcome the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.

It is undeniable that many APEC member economies have become Vietnam’s leading partners in terms of trade, investment and ODA funding. They have been and will be Vietnam’s important partners, said State President Nguyen Minh Triet at a recent interview granted to media workers prior to the 14th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

The International Media Centre (IMC) of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting (AELM) officially opened in Hanoi on November 10. As many as 2,000 local and foreign correspondents will gather there next week to cover APEC activities.