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International Economic Integration: Big Efforts, Major Gains (18/01)
18/01/2012 - 8 Lượt xem
A member of ASEAN, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum (APEC) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), Vietnam has been
striving to bring into play its role in those organizations in order to improve
Vietnam's position in the international arena and seek opportunities to boost
trade and attract foreign investment.
In cooperation with ASEAN: ASEAN member countries are
striving to fully develop cooperation plans and initiatives, including
commitments to liberalize intra-regional trade, towards the goal of establishing
the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. ASEAN continues to give priority to
speeding up the implementation of ASEAN's important agreements such as the ASEAN
Trade in Goods Agreement, the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement and the
Eighth Package of Commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services
while at the same time boosting cooperation in other fields. This process can be
considered as the firm foundation for ASEAN to achieve its economic integration
goals from now to 2015 and the ensuing years.
Vietnam has
participated actively and responsibly in ASEAN cooperation with the aim to
maintain and promote regional cooperation towards the goal of building the AEC
by 2015. Vietnam is one of the most dynamic countries in implementing measures
and initiatives proposed in the Master Plan for Building the AEC. By the end of
October 2011, Vietnam had implemented 95.37 percent of all measures and
initiatives proposed for the 2008-2009 period (the average percentage of ASEAN
was 83.8 percent) and 78.52 percent of measures and initiatives proposed for
2010-2011 (ASEAN's average percentage was 68.6 percent).
In cooperation with the WTO: In 2011, the Ministry of
Industry and Trade continued to play the role of a liaison office to monitor and
coordinate with concerned organizations to promote the implementation of
Vietnam's commitments with the WTO. So far, Vietnam has seriously and fully
implemented its WTO accession commitments, even in rather complicated fields
such as transparency and subsidy. Vietnam has seriously implemented its
commitments in opening the commodity market. The leading sectors in terms of tax
reductions include garments and textiles, fish and fish products, wood and
paper, manufactured products, machinery and electrical, electronic appliances.
However, major, sensitive products such as agricultural
produce, cement, iron and steel, construction materials, autos and motorcycles
continue to be protected at a reasonable level. Exports have been restructured
gradually to include more products related to the processing industry and
hi-tech products with higher added value and less use of raw materials such as
petroleum, coal, rubber and rice. This reflects a fact that Vietnam has to some
extent brought into play its advantages.
In cooperation with APEC: The Ministry of Industry and
Trade participated in and contributed Vietnam's opinions to three APEC Senior
Officials Meetings, three meetings of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment
and a number of workgroup meetings which took place on the sidelines of those
events. The ministry also attended the 17th APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade
Meeting and the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting which took
place in the US. Playing the role of a liaison office to promote Vietnam's
participation in APEC's economic cooperation activities, the Ministry of
Industry and Trade and other ministries and sectors have taken an active part in
APEC agendas and proposed many initiatives to increase cooperation in fields in
which Vietnam is interested.
As a result, Vietnam's exports to APEC members, and
other key countries, such as ASEAN countries, Japan, China, the US and
Australia, have increased gradually. Some APEC members are becoming strategic
partners of Vietnam as the country is implementing a plan to tighten and broaden
external economic, trade and investment relations. Cooperation with APEC allows
Vietnam to learn from its experiences and develop economic, trade, investment
development and management models as found in developed countries, take part in
economic and technical cooperation processes as well as in capacity building
projects.
In cooperation with ASEM: In 2011, the Ministry of
Industry and Trade attended the ASEM Senior Officials Meeting on Trade and
Investment which took place in Brussels, Belgium in February 2011. It
coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare for Vietnam's
attendance at the ASEM Senior Officials Meeting and the ASEM Foreign Ministers
Meeting, which took place in Hungary in June 2011. Through those meetings,
Vietnam mobilized ASEM members to resume economic cooperation activities,
including the organizing of the ASEM Economic Ministers Meeting which has been
delayed for the past many years.
TPP negotiations: The Ministry of Industry and Trade has
prepared for Vietnam's participation in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific
Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP). It has coordinated with other
ministries concerned and sectors to prepare a plan for negotiations on
incompatible measures and submitted it to the Prime Minister for approval. Based
on that plan, a general framework agreement has been proposed to contribute to
further increasing trade and investment relations between TPP members, boosting
employment generation and economic growth to improve living standards in TPP
member countries.
Following the efforts it made during the past year,
Vietnam has achieved great results. The country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
has grown at a rather high rate. Vietnam's domestic and foreign trade has
developed strongly. In 2011, Vietnam's exports increased sharply with total
value estimated at about US$96.3 billion, up 33 percent compared with 2010,
exceeding the National Assembly-set growth target of 10 percent. Distribution
services in Vietnam rose considerably. The distribution and retail sector
created about 14 percent of the country's GDP, creating jobs for more than five
million people, the highest rate compared with all other service sectors. Total
retail sales in 2011 increased 22 percent compared with 2010. Foreign
investment, Official Development Assistance (ODA) and overseas remittances to
Vietnam were high.
All these results reflect the fact that Vietnam is
integrating more deeply into the world economy and that the country has taken
part in the global trade liberalization process and made a shift to the market
economy with strong support from the Vietnamese people and international
friends./.
Source: VEN.
Source: VEN.
