Vietnam Can Join WTO soon, Says WTO Official
Vietnam Can Join WTO soon, Says WTO Official
Vietnam will likely access to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December, 2005, forecasts Mr. Seung Ho, WTO Deputy General Director and Chairman of the Working Group for Vietnam's WTO accession, after Vietnam completed the ninth round of the WTO membership negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland on December 17.
To this end, Vietnam needs to conduct four other rounds of talks, he said. The 10th round of multilateral negotiations is scheduled to take place next March 31, and the country must organize the three other rounds of talks before the end of autumn next year to allow the Working Group enough time to prepare for the country's official entry in December.
When discussing trade rights at the ninth negotiation round started on December 9, one member of the Working Group said discrimination between domestic companies and foreign-invested firms in Vietnam still existed, urging that the country must fulfill its commitment to abolish this.
The country needs to finish similar talks next year with the remainder three major partners of the US, Canada and Japan and other nations including China, Colombia, New Zealand, Iceland, Switzerland, South Korea and Australia.
Vietnamese
