Lee to Lead Malaysia Delegation to APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting in Vietnam

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (Bernama) – Deputy Minister of Finance II, Lee Chee Leong, will lead the Malaysian delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Finance Ministers’ Meetings (APEC FMM) from Oct 20 to 21, 2017 in Hoi An, Vietnam. In a statement Thurday, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said the APEC FMM would discuss and exchange views, among others, on current issues affecting the global economy, international financial system and financial outlook that economies were facing and the appropriate policy responses needed. “The APEC finance ministers will highlight the importance of focusing on the APEC’s priorities as well as financial cooperation to promote growth towards the goal of fostering a shared future,” it said. The ministry said the meeting would also discuss the use of policy tools, whether monetary, fiscal and structural, through individual or collective actions to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The MoF said Lee was also scheduled to participate in the APEC Finance Ministers’ Retreat which would discuss the fiscal consolidation and public debt sustainability. “In the retreat, finance ministers from all APEC economies and heads of delegation would exchange their experience in fiscal consolidation policies and public debt sustainability, as a stable fiscal policy is one of the key factors for sustainable economic growth. “The discussion to highlight on the importance of effective fiscal consolidation as such measures would help economies gain fiscal balance in the long term, thus contributing to public debt sustainability,” it said. The ministry said that in line with the 2017 APEC theme, ‘Creating New Dynamism, Fostering Shared Future’, four priorities under the Finance Ministers’ Process 2017 would be discussed – Long-Term Investment in Infrastructure; Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS); Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance; and, Financial Inclusion. Under the Long-Term Investment in Infrastructure priority, the finance ministers would discuss policies to promote long-term investment in infrastructure and were invited to share their experience on challenges faced in public-private partnership projects, including risk allocation, it said. It said under the BEPS priority, discussions would be concentrated on the progress within APEC on the BEPS Action Plan implementation. Under the Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance priority, the finance ministers would discuss policy recommendations and experience on disaster risk financing and insurance while the Financial Inclusion priority would discuss the outcomes of APEC cooperation in financial inclusion, it said. The MoF said besides these priorities, the finance ministers would will also review the implementation of the Cebu Action Plan. It said Lee was scheduled to attend the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Executive Dialogue with APEC finance ministers where they would discuss with ABAC and private sector representatives on issues relating to infrastructure and financial technology, as well as proposing recommendations for further contributions from the private sector to the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process. He is also scheduled to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, during the Finance Ministers’ courtesy meeting as well as having a bilateral courtesy meeting with Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, China, Paul Chan, at the sidelines of the APEC FMM. – BERNAMA