The membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for Vietnam will create great opportunity not for all enterprises but for competitive ones only, experts and executive officials of local large-scale companies shared the same view.
Remarks were posted on State newspapers after Vietnam announced on Sunday that it reached the deal in “principle” with the US to conclude the tough talks.
Under the regulations of WTO and pack deal with WTO’s partners, some priority policies of the Vietnamese Government, including interest, tax and export bonus for export enterprises will be eliminated in a near future so that enterprises in the sector will have to deal with colossal difficulties, noted Truong Dinh Anh, General Director of FPT telecom giant company of Vietnam.
“Global giants and foreign enterprises will come to Vietnam and domestic firms will face fierce fights with them in post-WTO period” noted his senior Truong Gia Binh, Director of FPT.
However, great opportunities will be created, trade barriers will no longer exist and some enterprises with advantages will receive best chance to develop, Binh noted.
Regarding the IT sphere, he said by strictly obeying Intellectual Property Rights, enterprises will have to pay vast amount of money for software, adding to their operating cost, but the IT sector will firmly develop.
Economic Senior Expert of the World Bank (WB) Pham Minh Duc said enterprises will continue confronting commercial disputes, including dumping cases.
Other experts had the same view with Duc, analyzing that Vietnam’s economy will not be considered as the market one within coming 12 years.
Duc, however, said thanks to being treated in accordance with regulations of WTO, Vietnamese enterprises would receive fairer dealing in trade debates.
“The conclusion of talks with the US will offer reliable chance for Vietnam to get WTO’s ticket, thus many prospects will be created, especially sector of banking” Deputy General Director of Vietcombank Nguyen Thu Ha optimistically said.
“The US is always regarded as most potential market of Vietcombank” Ha said adding that the bank would be able to realize its desire to set up a branch in the market to run remittance services.
However, foreign enterprises and banks are complaining on the speed of privatization of the bank due to governmental priorities it gets. After the WTO member it would likely play against a number of obstacles, some observers said.
Yesterday, Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen announced that Vietnam, US reached an agreement in principal after five tense working days. The formal deal is expected to be signed in Ho Chi Minh City early next month, according to state media.
The two toughest issues were market recognition and subsidies for textile & garment sector. At the last negotiating minutes, Vietnam and the US agreed that the Asian’s economy will be considered the market economy in next 12 years, three years less than China, and Vietnam will immediately cancel the $4 billion of support plan after the signing of official trade agreement.
Vietnam applied to join the WTO in 1995. To date, the country has wrapped up the talks with all 28 bilateral partners. It will have to conclude the multilateral discussion considered minor problem in coming time. Moreover, Vietnam will have to wait for result of the US congress vote to offer Vietnam Permanent Normal Trade Relation (PNTR), vital condition to receive the WTO membership. Expert said the time for Vietnam to gain the status is quite short since the US Congress will hold the election this year and also has a summer vacation in August.
However, senior officials of Vietnam talked about the last scheme that the US Administration would propose WTO to grant Vietnam the membership before it get the PNTR status, this situation happened in the past for Moldova. Moldova has joined WTO since 2001 but it has yet not received the PNTR to date.
(Young People, The People, Labour, Youth)
Vietnamese
