President Luong Cuong calls on APEC business community to strengthen cooperation and improve adaptability

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 3rd Meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC III), President Luong Cuong called on the business community to strengthen cooperation and improve adaptability.

President Luong Cuong speaks at the opening session of ABAC III.

On the morning of July 16, at Pullman Hai Phong Hotel, the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) opened its 3rd Session - 2025.

President Luong Cuong attended and spoke.

Attending the meeting were Party Central Committee members: Le Khanh Hai, Head of the Office of the President ; Le Tien Chau, Secretary of the City Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Phong City.

Comrades: Nguyen Minh Hang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Truong Thanh Hoai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; Nguyen Duc Tam, Deputy Minister of Finance; Le Ngoc Chau, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of Hai Duong City People's Committee attended.

Mr. Hyun Sang Cho, Chairman of ABAC 2025; Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Chairman of ABAC Vietnam chaired the opening session.

President Luong Cuong and leaders and delegates attended the opening ceremony of ABAC III.

Speaking at the opening session of ABAC III, President Luong Cuong assessed that throughout its 36 years of formation and development, APEC has affirmed its role as the region's leading economic cooperation mechanism, a driving force for promoting growth and integration, ensuring peace, stability, connectivity and prosperity for the region.

Emphasizing that the role of multilateral cooperation and public-private dialogue is becoming increasingly important and must be raised to a new level, the President assessed that ABAC plays a key role as a bridge between the private sector and APEC economic leaders. ABAC not only proposes favorable policies for the economy but also directly participates in creating practical solutions to strengthen value chains, promote investment, facilitate trade flows and encourage innovation. Initiatives from ABAC will continue to be the driving force for sustainable development in the region.

President Luong Cuong, leaders of Hai Phong City and delegates took photos at the exhibition area introducing the city's economic potential and local specialties.

President Luong Cuong welcomed the fact that ABAC has selected topics for discussion at this session to revolve around core areas such as free trade and sustainable investment, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, green finance and sustainable development, health security and innovation in the field of biotechnology. These are all major priorities of Vietnam in the National Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045.

To achieve these priorities, Vietnam is promoting strong institutional reforms, perfecting the legal system, and building a transparent, competitive, and stable investment and business environment. In recent years, Vietnam has become an attractive destination for international investors, not only thanks to its market size of more than 100 million people but also thanks to its ability to access a large market through a network of new-generation free trade agreements such as CPTPP and EVFTA.

Vietnam always attaches importance to APEC cooperation and actively contributes to the common efforts to realize the APEC Vision 2040 for an open, dynamic, self-reliant, peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific community for all people and future generations...

President Luong Cuong with delegates attending ABAC III

The President said that Vietnam promotes rapid but sustainable growth, maintains macroeconomic stability, controls inflation, ensures balanced and harmonious development between the economy and society and protects the environment, while promoting innovation, developing a technology ecosystem, and promoting research and development centers in the fields of semiconductors, artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

Vietnam identifies enterprises as a pioneering force in the process of national modernization. In this spirit, Vietnam has issued very important decisions to support the development of the private enterprise sector, especially small and medium enterprises.

These are comprehensive support mechanisms from capital access, human resource training, digital transformation to supporting technological innovation, encouraging investment in priority industries. This is a concrete step, demonstrating Vietnam's strong commitment to creating a favorable environment and accompanying the business community in sustainable development...

Scene of the opening session of ABAC III

President Luong Cuong called on the APEC business community to strengthen cooperation, link production chains, share technology, and improve adaptability to global shocks. Competition is necessary, but cooperation is the condition for all economies to win.

ABAC organizations and large enterprises in the region need to actively support small and medium enterprises through training, technology transfer and market cooperation. It is necessary to create conditions for small and medium enterprises to participate more deeply in the global value chain, contributing to the inclusive and sustainable development of the region.

In the coming time, Vietnam will continue to promote APEC cooperation initiatives in the direction of people-centeredness, enterprise-drivenness and sustainable development as the goal; accompany ABAC in building and recommending practical policies that accurately reflect the expectations and needs of the business community.

President Luong Cuong believes that the ABAC III meeting in Hai Phong will be a forum for connecting minds, sharing visions and opening up new ideas. The recommendations and initiatives conceived, formed and developed at ABAC III will be of great value in the preparation process for the ABAC Dialogue and APEC leaders in October in the Republic of Korea.

Booths displaying many local specialties of Hai Phong City

Immediately after the opening session, President Luong Cuong and other leaders and delegates visited exhibition booths introducing the economic potential and local specialties of Hai Phong city.

The ABAC III meeting was hosted by the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and SOVICO Group, Saigon Investment Group (members of ABAC Vietnam), taking place from July 15-18, 2025 in Hai Phong City with the support of the city.
The event brought together more than 200 delegates who are ABAC members and assistants, including leaders of large corporations, multinational companies, and leading enterprises from 21 APEC member economies.

At the meeting, ABAC members will discuss many priority topics in the APEC 2025 agenda, including: Trade and investment, sustainable finance, digital transformation, green development, innovation, food security and health.

Outstanding initiatives of ABAC will be compiled and presented to APEC leaders in October 2025 in Korea.

The ABAC III meeting was held in the context of Vietnam actively preparing for its role as host of APEC 2027. The presence and speech of President Luong Cuong at the event demonstrated Vietnam's strong commitment to supporting the business community, promoting multilateral cooperation and actively contributing to the regional integration process.

HOANG BIEN - DUY THINH - PHAN TUAN

Source: https://baohaiphongplus.vn/chu-cich-nuoc-luong-cuong-keu-goi-cong-dong-doanh-nghiep-apec-tang-cuong-hop-tac-nang-cao-kha-nang-thich-ung-416477.html