Reporter: The 12th round of bilateral negotiations between Vietnam and the US on the former’s accession to the WTO was said to be the toughest one. The two sides reached an agreement in principle. Could you give more details about those principles?

Mr Khoan: Now everything is clear. On May 31st at the Reunification Hall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the US signed an agreement wrapping up bilateral negotiations on Vietnam’s accession to the WTO.

Under WTO’s rules, Vietnam has to carry out multilateral negotiations (with a working group of member countries) on trade policies and bilateral negotiations with individual members that have asked for negotiations on particular commitments. The US is the last partner among the 28 WTO members that asked for bilateral negotiations.

All bilateral negotiations were made according to the following major principles:

- Reducing commodity import tariffs. The US, as a matter of course, has to grant Vietnam import tariffs like other WTO member countries. Vietnam also has to reduce import tariffs on some commodities that concern the US. I should take this opportunity to speak about an incorrect rumour that Vietnam has to reduce tariffs to 0-5 percent. This is not true. Vietnam does not have to cut tariffs much compared to the average. For the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the tariff is from 0-5 percent. In other words, WTO and ASEAN requirements are different.

- Vietnam has to commit to opening up its market to US enterprises, with the same conditions as being applied to Vietnamese enterprises. Under WTO rules, Vietnam has to give US enterprises the same treatment as domestic firms. Normally, the US pays great attention to such services as telecommunications, banking and insurances. The negotiations were mainly focused on what kinds of services will be opened up in Vietnam and at what level as well as a timetable for action. After Vietnam’s entry to WTO, in principle, Vietnamese enterprises as a matter of course can penetrate the US market like other member countries.

Reporter: Deputy Prime Minister, the remaining problem is that after signing the agreement, what does Vietnam (including the State, enterprises, associations and citizens) have to do so as to take the initiative to develop the advantages and limit the difficulties and challenges after joining the WTO?

Mr Khoan: The major issue now is the implementation of things that need to be done in the post-WTO period, meaning the period after the country joins the WTO.

For the State, in my opinion, there are the key following works:

Firstly, continued efforts should be made to build and complete legal documents in accordance with WTO commitments.

Secondly, enterprises should be provided with information on these commitments so that they can seize the opportunities to speed up exports, penetrate foreign markets, and re-organise production to increase competitiveness.

It should be made clear that commitments cannot be made public at the moment as Vietnam is still in the process of negotiating.

Thirdly, it is necessary to further improve the business and production environment to create favourable conditions for enterprises in their trading activities.

Fourthly, Vietnam should strengthen administrative reforms and fight against corruption, and bureaucracy to improve the business environment.

Fifthly, the government also needs to boost human resource training so that staff are equipped with a better understanding of WTO rules, as well as information about the world market, economic management capacity and foreign languages.

Sixthly, the government should be well-prepared for resolving socio-economic issues that may appear after the country joins the WTO.

For enterprises, they have many things to do as they play a decisive role.

Firstly, businesses should thoroughly study the country’s WTO commitments after they are made public so as to working out plans to re-organise production and businesses, increase quality and reduce the costs of products and services to boost competitiveness.

Secondly, domestic businesses should promote co-ordination with each other in order to take advantages of new opportunities and cope with new challenges.

Thirdly, businesses must take the initiative to dominate the domestic market and penetrate foreign markets. Thus, they have to pay greater attention to understanding world markets as well as international trading rules and norms.

Fourthly, businesses should work together with the State to develop human resources, including managers, technicians and workers.

Business associations should become efficient supporters of businesses in the above-mentioned work, especially in providing information and uniting enterprises.

This is an outline of things that need to be done. I am sure that the government, ministries, sectors, associations and businesses will work out detailed plans of action to capitalise on opportunities and overcome difficulties in the period after Vietnam becomes a WTO member.

Source: Nhan Dan online 01/06/2006