Vietnamese regulators and economists gathered at Oct 29’s conference to take a look back at two years of WTO accession to point out gains and shortcomings as well as draw lessons, Vietnamnet newswire published by the Ministry of Information and Communication said on October 30.
Big lessons drawn here are governance capacity of the government and responding capacity of local businesses before outside changes, Vietnamnet said.
On the sidelines of the event, former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen told Vietnamnet that three achievements after two years of WTO accession include sharp increase in FDI supportive of Vietnam’s economic shift, job generation and GDP growth; expansion of exports markets, a boost of formation of new governance and management.
Vietnam has done well in implementation of WTO commitments, which receive appreciation from foreigners, Tuyen said.
Meanwhile, Vo Tri Thanh, head of the Central Institute of Economics Management’s International Economic Integration said the biggest gain is to help the government of Vietnam to speed up administrative reforms and change governance mind styles.
In contrast, Vietnam has faced challenges such hefty trade deficit, which climbed 30 per cent of exports values, higher than 20 per cent in pre-WTO accession, not because of WTO membership, but because of slow economic shifts, underdevelopment of supporting industries, too much reliance on the global economy, Tuyen noted.
Economist Vo Tri Thanh pointed out that we [Vietnam] had overreactions, then fell into perplexity in macroeconomic management.
“WTO membership is not miracle,” Tuyen said.
Vietnam’s economy will face difficulties in 2009, Tuyen and Thanh forecast. (Vietnamnet)
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