Trade Minister reaffirms determination for integration (23/05)
06/08/2010 - 127 Lượt xem
Will the final agreement between Vietnam and the US on Vietnam’s accession to the WTO be signed at the APEC Trade Ministerial Meeting which is going to be organized in Ho Chi Minh City on June 1 and 2?
We have issued a press release saying that the 2 sides are going through necessary formalities for signing of the agreement in the near future. Everything is running smoothly and I believe that the agreement will be officially signed soon.
Can Vietnam call for support of APEC members for the country’s WTO entry as well as PNTR on the occasion of the Trade Ministerial Meeting?
In previous APEC Summit declarations, members all supported Vietnam’s accession to the trade body. I think the approval will be much stronger this time because negotiations are coming to an end. However, PNTR grant is a bilateral issue between Vietnam and the US only and the
2 sides have been making efforts to call the US Congress to grant the PNTR to Vietnam. I have met several US senators and see that most of them support PNTR grant to Vietnam.
When will the next multilateral negotiation take place? What are Vietnam’s pros and cons in multilateral talks?
Multilateral negotiations focus on implementation of WTO rules. Vietnam has gone through 12 rounds of this kind of talk. The next round, which is scheduled in July, is expected to conclude the multilateral negotiation process.
Advantages of Vietnam in multilateral negotiation is that Vietnam has carried out the "Doi Moi" cause for 20 years.
Last year, the National Assembly passed several important laws such as the Corporate Law, Investment Law, Intellectual Property Law, revised Trade Law, Competition Law, etc, creating significant legal basis for Vietnam to implement commitments in negotiations for WTO accession.
However, Vietnam faces unequal treatment in multilateral negotiations. First, the later a country joins the trade body, the more it has to commit and second, for a developing country like Vietnam, interests in the WTO are small but obligations are big. In my opinions, what is important is domestic reforms, which create a favourable investment environment for foreign firms.
Do you think WTO membership will bring about direct interests and immediately impact the economy of Vietnam?
There are 2 direct interests for a country once it joins the trade body. The first is quota abolishment and the second is market economy status. However, Vietnam has not been recognized to have a market economy. I think the biggest profit for Vietnam in joining to the organization is that it will bring about a favourable environment for foreign investment and a stable, transparent and predictable policy system.
Vietnam has committed to open the market but many do not believe the country’s implementation. Will this process be accelerated?
When committing to open the market, we considered levels of opening of new WTO members as well as the economy of Vietnam. The level opening is high in fields that we are competitive and low in sensitive fields. The matter should be viewed as a whole.
Source: Vneconomy
