3:26:18 PM | 7/8/2005
Fears of Advanced US Garment Quotas
According to Mr. Le Van Thang, the Deputy Head of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry Trade, quotas to the American market will be announced on 15 August and will be enforced 15 days later. Accordingly, some 700 enterprises will receive extra quotas early next month.
Some experts, however, believe that the Vietnamese textile-garment sector will have more difficulties in 2005 due to the advanced quotas. American textile-garment enterprises have even warned to stop cooperation with Vietnamese partners.
Mr. Thang explained that the Vietnam-US bilateral textile-garment agreement was extended last July in Washington. Accordingly, Vietnamese enterprises may borrow from the 2005 quota to increase exports in 2004. However, in response, some foreign sources said that US customs would take measures against the legal transfer. Mr. Thang confirmed that “the meeting between the two governments on July 22 in Washington was to extend the agreement including the application of growth rates and pre-quota loans, but the legal transfer was not mentioned on the occasion.”
Vietnamese
