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| Participants at the workshop. VNS Photo Thu Ngan |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY – Experts from APEC member economies on Saturday afternoon spoke about the need to invest in quality infrastructure at a workshop hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) in HCM City.
The workshop was the second activity of APEC’s Committee of Trade and Investment held during the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 3) and related meetings in the city.
Speaking at the workshop, Kazuko Ishigaki, director of MLIT’S international planning for the construction industry, said: “As the APEC multi-year plan on infrastructure development and investment endorsed in 2013, well-designed, sustainable and resilient infrastructure enhances economic growth, boosts productivity and provides significant positive flow-on effects.”
“That is why APEC promotes a Connectivity Blueprint and other related initiatives to promote infrastructure development. This is being orchestrated with global trends,” she added.
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, she added that “it’s important to fill the financial gap at first, but because of budget constraints, it is important to make the most of the investment.”
“Governments should invest in infrastructure in a smart and effective way. If we build fragile infrastructure, it will be easily damaged by disasters like floods and earthquakes. It is also important to design infrastructure in an effective way so that we do not waste any investment,” she said.
The experts’ ideas and suggestions about improving the quality of infrastructure will be submitted to an APEC high-level meeting on quality infrastructure to be held in Tokyo in October.
Vũ Thanh Sơn, an official of the Ministry of Construction, said the meeting was a good opportunity for Việt Nam to learn from developed economies’experience in investing in quality infrastructure.
In an aim to attract more foreign investors, Việt Nam was making significant investments in infrastructure, he said, adding that it needs US$480 billion to develop infrastructure from now to 2020. VNS
