Vietnam to host APEC gathering in 2017
As the APEC leaders’ meeting wraps up in Peru, attention now turns to Vietnam, hosts of next year’s APEC. “It’s ten years since the last time Vietnam hosted APEC, and a lot has changed with the country since then. In the last six or seven years, we’ve seen Vietnam transform into one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia, and very much becoming one of the go-to nations for foreign investment. And in this sense Vietnam has a lot going for it; the Vietnam government has made a lot of changes to legal and monetary policies, making it far more open to investment and trade; it has a young and energetic domestic workforce boosting a strong manufacturing industry; it has good political stability and low inflation. Now, there has been something of a snag in free trade sector in recent weeks. The Trans-Pacific Partnership – the trade agreement that was designed to forge economic bridges throughout Asia Pacific countries – now looks all but certain to collapse following the election of Donald Trump in the United States.
