Introducing the APRU, its Secretary General Christopher Tremewan said that the association was established in 1997 by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) (The UCLA director is also the Chair of the APRU). The APRU is a consortium of 44 leading research universities from the APEC economies (USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, Korea, China, Singapore, etc.).

The APRU is striving towards 6 objectives:  Building an association of most influential research universities around the Asia-Pacific region; connecting leaders of leading research universities; promoting cooperation with governments, international organizations, businesses and local communities to increase the influence of the research activities of the member universities; promoting staff and students exchange initiatives between the member universities; demonstrating the value of research universities in working together to solve global challenges; creating  impacts on  training and the rapidly changing research environment.

To achieve its goals, the APRU expands its network with the participation of leading research universities in the region. Thus, Secretary General Christopher Tremewan wished that VNU would soon become a member of the APRU.

Speaking at the meeting, VNU President Nguyễn Kim Sơn said that as the leading university in Vietnam, VNU was an official member of many regional and international higher education organizations and networks such as East Asian Universities Group (BESETOHA), ASEAN University Network (AUN), Francophone University Organization (AUF), Association of Southeast Asian and Taiwan Universities (SATU), the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL)... . Especially, VNU was considered by the Prime Minister as one of the 13 pillars of ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).

Currently, many partners of VNU are also members of APRU, such as Tokyo University, Osaka University, Chulalongkorn University, Thanh Hoa University, Peking University, Fudan University, Seoul National University, Singapore National University, ... . VNU President Nguyễn Kim Sơn sent his warm thanks to the APRU and shared that VNU was ready to join and become a member of the APRU.

Appreciating the idea of ​​hosting the APEC University leaders Forum, VNU President Nguyễn Kim Sơn believed that this would be an opportunity for university leaders to meet and discuss issues of common concern. VNU President also proposed to select specific topics closely following the contents of the APEC Senior Officials Summit and affirmed that VNU would support the APRU in seeking opinions from the government and relevant agencies as well as actively encourage major universities in the region to participate in this event.