Buoyed by U.S. trade deal, Vietnam steps up WTO membership talks
Buoyed by U.S. trade deal, Vietnam steps up WTO membership talks
Agence-France Presse Hanoi
Communist Vietnam prepared to launch intensive talks on World Trade Organization (WTO) membership Thursday, buoyed by the final ratification of an historic trade deal with the U.S.
WTO director general Mike Moore was due to arrive here around 7:00 pm (7 p.m. Jakarta time) for evening talks with Trade Minister Vu Khoan, ahead of meetings with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien and Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung on Friday.
"It's not a coincidence that Mr. Moore is visiting Vietnam at this time," Khoan told reporters.
"It's a very important visit. We expect to get a breakthrough."
Khoan said Vietnam's four rounds of talks with the WTO so far had been limited to questions of transparency.
"Now, we're going to begin a new round of talks on the core issues of Vietnam's admission to the WTO," he said.
Vietnam has so far declined to give a target date for its admission to the world trading club.
But the communist authorities have come under mounting pressure to press ahead before the WTO gets bogged down in talks on the new world trade round launched in the Gulf state of Qatar earlier this month.
Vietnam should aim to follow its communist neighbor China into the WTO within two to four years, European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said earlier this year.
World Bank officials agreed Vietnam should press ahead with accession talks as quickly as possible now that the trade agreement with the United States was in the bag.
"It is the surest way of getting greater access to markets outside," the bank's chief economist for Vietnam, Kazi Matin, told reporters.
"If you don't have WTO membership, even full access to the Chinese market is going to be difficult.
"It's also good for the internal reform process and Vietnam's competitive efficiency."
Matin said a four-year timeframe for Vietnam's accession looked "do-able," but cautioned it is "not a process that is wholly in Vietnam's control."
A landmark trade deal with the U.S., which was finally approved by Vietnam's communist-dominated parliament Wednesday after six years of tortuous negotiations, is based on WTO rules.
U.S. officials say it provides an excellent basis for Vietnam to launch the necessary talks with other key trading partners for WTO membership.