APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting deals with global, regional challenges: Finance Minister

The APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting has promoted cooperation, aided in economic recovery and sustainable development while addressing global and regional challenges, said Vietnamese Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the meeting in San Francisco on November 13, Phoc said the meeting focused its discussions on sustainable development, finance for sustainable development, digital assets and supply-centric economic models.

Addressing discussions on finance for climate change response, the official affirmed that Vietnam is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and supports the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

For Vietnam, the funding from JETP has been committed at 15.5 billion USD which is required within the next 6 years, he said, adding that it has issued mechanisms to draw private investment into renewable energy projects, such as solar and wind energy, and hydropower.

According to him, Vietnam is also attracting investments from international financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), European banks, and investment funds to support climate change mitigation projects.

Concerning finance for climate change response, Vietnam proposed that financial institutions accelerate the disbursement of committed funds, as early and specifically as possible, he said.

He added that finance ministers had debated the increasing public debt and solutions for short and medium term. Other topics included funding for climate change investment and energy transition, fair and infrastructure investment, aging population affecting fiscal policy and measures, and tax-related matters to increase public financial resources.

In the long term, the sides will amend several tax laws, increase tax rates, and expand some tax bases, such as valued added tax or new areas taxed at 5%, which may rise to 10%. Import-export and special consumption taxes may also see hikes, he added.