Modest gains from WTO membership (22/4)
22/04/2013 - 16 Lượt xem
Initial gains
The robust development of
exports was the most obvious achievement. Specifically, Vietnamese
export revenues reached less than US$50 billion per year before Vietnam
became a member of the WTO, while they rose to almost US$115 billion in
2012. This figure reached almost US$30 billion in the first quarter of
this year, accounting for about 60 percent of total export revenues in
2007 when Vietnam entered the WTO. The export growth rate has been
impressive in recent years reaching more than 29 percent in 2008, 20
percent in 2010, 33.3 percent in 2011, 18.3 percent in 2012 and 19.7
percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to the General
Statistical Office. However, due to the global financial crisis, export
revenues fell by almost 10 percent in 2009.
Notably, both Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) and domestic investment sectors have increased their
export revenues, meaning that Vietnam's WTO membership has benefited
both foreign and domestic businesses, largely because Vietnamese
agricultural and seafood exports have played a significant role in the
global value chain.
Both FDI and Official
Development Assistance (ODA) capital increased year on year.
Particularly, several major high-tech projects from the US, Japan, the
Republic of Korea and other countries' multinational groups were opened
in Vietnam. Export revenues from electronic wares, telephones and
cameras have soared in recent years. Japan, the Republic of Korea and
financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the
World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continued
financing infrastructure development projects to help Vietnam develop
new forms of investment and public-private partnerships (PPP).
As a WTO member, Vietnam has
carried out negotiations on free trade agreements including with the
European Union (EU) and other major economies.
Achievements from WTO membership
were also obvious in increased international relations and growing
support from other countries. The gains are of great significance and
are the result of WTO accession.
Further renovation is vital
Vietnam's
initial achievements in the first six years of WTO membership are
modest when compared with most other member economies, which have
maintained ties with the WTO for a long time.
Some said that Vietnam has not
achieved success from its WTO membership when compared with China or
several other countries. The Chinese economy has made rapid leaps in its
more than ten years of WTO membership. However the Vietnamese economy
experienced a decline in recent years if foreign trade is excluded,,
largely due to the global economic recession and the public debt crisis
in many countries.
Moreover, Vietnam has not made the most of its internal strengths and the major advantages of WTO accession.
WTO accession means deeply
integrating into the market-based economy and ensuring the combined
development of all economic sectors, of which the private sector should
play a vital role. However, the Vietnamese economy has basically relied
on the planning-oriented, centrally-controlled mechanism despite
spending more than 25 years renovating the economy under its Doi Moi
(Renovation) policy. Sometimes the market was steered too heavily by
administrative decisions and "emergency-breaks" or "jerking" policies.
State subsidies and "feeding" have been continued for the state-owned
business sector although it has not worked effectively. This means that
Vietnam has not provided the basic factors for the development of the
market economy and has not made good preparations for the state-owned
sector to adapt to new economic relations after the country became a WTO
member.
The state economy in general and
the state-owned business sector in particular is considered a key
economic pillar. However, it has not been renewed sufficiently in the
last six years. For this reason, it is vital to quickly restructure the
economy and renew the growth model, which ought to have been completed
during 2006-2008.
WTO accession should include
increasing adaptability and improvements following the
socialist-oriented market economy model. Only through doing so, can the
Vietnamese economy keep up with the WTO. Adaptability and improvements
can only stem from qualified human resources. Since 2012 domestic and
FDI businesses, including major groups and corporations have strongly
restructured their personnel, as a part of the joint efforts to
restructure the Vietnamese economy to keep pace with the development of
the WTO./.
Source: VEN.
Source: VEN.
