Vietnam to Hold 10th Multilateral Round on WTO Entry on May 18

Vietnam to Hold 10^th Multilateral Round on WTO Entry on May 18

Vietnam will start the tenth multilateral negotiation round on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on May 18 in Geneva, according to a source from the Ministry of Trade (MoT).

This session will continue to focus on the implementation of Vietnam's commitments after becoming a WTO member as well as issues of opening up the market, the ministry said.

According to a Vietnamese negotiator, the country will have to answer questions about its roadmap to opening up its industries and its plan for legal reforms to meet WTO conditions.

At the same time, Vietnam will also conduct bilateral talks with Japan, China and South Korea, the MoT said.

The ministry added that Vietnam conducted bilateral WTO negotiations with Australia on May 3. Topics of the talks were plans for Vietnam to further open its goods and services markets after joining the Geneva-based global trade watchdog.

Vietnam applied to join the WTO in 1995 and plans to become a member of the organization late this year.

To date, the country has completed talks with seven countries, namely Cuba (on Jun 15, 2004), Chile (Aug 22, 2004), the EU (Oct 9, 2004), Argentina (Nov 12, 2004), Brazil (Nov 16, 2004), Singapore (Nov 25, 2004), and Uruguay (Apr 14, 2005). It must sit through ten rounds of negotiations and fulfill negotiations with another 21 partners including Japan and the US in order to hit the goal.

Youth