Khanh Hoa (VNA) – As partof the first APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) and related meetings, the SOMSteering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) – Committee ofthe Whole (COW) convened its meeting in Nha Trang city, south central provinceof Khanh Hoa, on February 28. In his opening remarks, VietnamesePermanent Deputy Foreign Minister and APEC 2017 SOM Chair Bui Thanh Son said builton the overarching theme of "Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future"as well as the outcomes and deliverables from the past years, and after carefulconsultation with member economies, Vietnam has proposed four priorities for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Year 2017. According to the Deputy Minister, thefirst priority is to promote sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth.Structural reform and innovation play a significant role in bolstering growthand improving productivity. Human resource development, education, lifelong learning and re-skilling in particular, willbe crucial to ensure all segments of our societies can actively participate inthe workforce and benefit from the technological revolution. The second priority is on regionaleconomic integration and connectivity. It is important for APEC to acceleratethe realisation of the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment inAsia Pacific with a new sense of urgency. APEC needs to fulfill the unfinishedbusinesses to achieve the Bogor Goals. At the same time, APEC needs to envisionits future and role in the region and the world. Son stressed that the APEC members needto reaffirm its support to the multilateral trading system, and implement theLima Declaration on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). It is alsoimportant to continue implementation of the APEC Connectivity Blueprint, enhance global value chains and supportingindustries, and facilitate cross-border e-commerce, investment and services. The third priority is to help createdynamism for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) - a key driverof the region's growth, which account for about 97 percent of the total numberof APEC businesses. The APEC members should seek ways to make value chains moreinclusive, with greater participation of MSMEs, focus on creating a more enablingbusiness environment for MSMEs in the digital age and promote start-ups andinnovative MSMEs, Son said. Improving food security and achievesustainable agriculture is the fourth priority for APEC 2017. This is thesecond goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The transfer and applicationof technology will be crucial to improving agricultural productivity andresilience to climate change. The APEC members will need to collaborate tosustainably manage resources, including water, while pursuing existing effortsrelated to the food market and sustainable and inclusive development of ruralareas. The diplomat went on to say that thesepriorities are aligned with the medium-term priorities the SCE has establishedfor the 2015 – 2019 period. As a SOM-level Committee, Son said, the SCE plays avery important role in overseeing the efficient functioning of all its workinggroups and forums, enhancing cross-forum collaboration to better addresscross-cutting issues, as well as steering the APEC work on Ecotech. The four priorities of APEC 2017 containlots of cross-cutting issues, which require close collaboration among relevantAPEC committees, working groups and forum. Therefore, very much count on thesupport and contribution of the SCE to the overall work of APEC this year, he concluded. The APECforum includes 21 members - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong(China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, NewZealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, ChineseTaipei, Thailand, the US and Vietnam. By the endof November 2016, the APEC member economies accounted for 39 percent of theworld’s population and made up 59 percent of the world’s gross domestic product(GDP) and 48 percent of the global trade value.-VNA