Vietnam, US to sign WTO deal

A bilateral agreement marking the conclusion of negotiations with the US regarding Vietnam’s accession to the WTO will be signed at the Reunification Palace in HCM City on May 31 by Vietnamese Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen and US Trade Representative Susan C.Schwab, according to the 2006 APEC Secretariat.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan will also be present at the signing ceremony, which coincides with the second APEC Senior Officials Meeting and other APEC-related meetings being held in HCM City during the week of May 22-31.

Dialogues for growth

Immediately after the signing ceremony, the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) Meeting will be held from June 1-2.

The meeting will introduce the investment environment in Vietnam at a time when the country has concluded bilateral negotiations on its entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) with all partners, and is finalising WTO-related procedures.

The meeting will also highlight the advantages of trade and business activities in Vietnam and discuss the experiences of renowned regional business Star Group (Hong Kong) during its investment process in the country.

In addition, the focus will be on legal criteria and procedures the protection of intellectual property rights and trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam.

Opening investment through trade liberalisation

The second APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM II) was held on May 28 under the chairmanship of Deputy Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung. It aimed to clarify the business relevance of Regional Trade Agreements and Free Trade Agreements (RTAs/FTAs).

The 2006 APEC Policy Dialogue on RTAs/FTAs was the first to involve representatives from private enterprises. At the dialogue, enterprises from APEC developed and developing countries exchanged the views on interests, opportunities and challenges posed by these agreements. They also made recommendations, which will be taken into consideration by Senior APEC Officials in June 1-2 in HCM City. FedEx Express managing director Ralph Carter said: “Most businesses, if offered a choice, would prefer to liberalise trade through a multilateral or WTO approach. However, the Doha round showed that the liberalisation process within WTO has become much more difficult. Therefore, free trade agreements would serve as an important foundation for WTO and such agreements would open up new markets, offer investment opportunities, reduce business costs and ensure the legal environment for investors”.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hoang Van Dzung said: “We have emphasised the need to speed up the WTO negotiation process, promote free trade within the region, remove hurdles to help Vietnamese enterprises penetrate foreign markets and boost investment from APEC’s countries in Vietnam. Besides, the speeding up of the process will also help create a transparent legal system, and public agencies will have more opportunities to learn experiences in administrative reform from other countries, as well as abandon unnecessary formalities to facilitate activities of businesses. Moreover, almost all APEC member economies have called on the US and EU to remove agricultural subsidies, thereby facilitating penetration into these two markets”.

(Source: VOV)