Putin to attend APEC summit events
MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Vietnam on November 10-11 to take part in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, where he will attend working sessions and APEC leaders' meetings with members of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and hold a number of bilateral meetings.
Putin will fly to Da Nang on Thursday evening from Chelyabinsk, where Russia and Kazakhstan are due to hold their 14th regional cooperation forum, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told journalists at a briefing on Wednesday.
The summit will be preceded by meetings between APEC senior officials and foreign-affairs and commerce ministers, he said.
"Among key events are meetings between APEC leaders and business circles, a talk in the APEC-ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] format, two business lunches, and a business breakfast," Ushakov said.
The motto of Vietnam's APEC chairmanship is: "Creating a new driving force for a common future," he said.
Vietnam has set four priorities for its APEC chairmanship in 2017: to promote sustainable, innovative, and comprehensive growth; to deepen regional economic integration; to increase the competitiveness and innovative potential of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in the digital age; and to strengthen food security and agricultural stability given climate change, Ushakov said.
Next year, Papua New Guinea will hold the APEC chairmanship, he said.