Vietnam Formally Concludes WTO Talk with First North American Partner

Vietnam on March 22 in Geneva inked an agreement to officially wrap up the WTO negotiation with its first North American partner, Canada, according to state media Nhan Dan (The People). The signatories were Vietnamese Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu and the Canadian Ambassador to the Geneva-based trade body Stephenson.

 

Experts said that this is a dynamic move for Vietnam before opening the next decisive bilateral talks with the US and multilateral talk with some members of the world’s biggest trade organization next week.

 

Vietnam and Canada has conducted nine discussion rounds before reaching agreement on late June last year and the last issue between them related to goods and services.

 

In 2005, Canada lifted quotas on Vietnam textile and garment products though the Asian country had not yet joined the WTO. Vietnam and Canada established diplomatic relation in August 1973. Vietnam-Canada two-way trade last year was around US$650 million, according to calculations by the Vietnamese Trade Ministry

 

Canada funded US$26 million of ODA to Vietnam annually between 2003 and 2004, a rise from the annual figure of US$10 million in the 2000-2001 period and US$7.5 million from 1996-1999. The capital was mainly invested in administration reform, IT, the environment, education and hunger reduction.

 

Vietnam is one of 25 key development partners where Canadian assistance will be concentrated, in accordance with Canada's new International Policy Statement.
The People