Vietnam Not to Join WTO at Any Price: Trade Minister

 

"We [Vietnam] will join WTO possibly in early 2007 at the latest," Tuyen said, noting "We, however, will not join at any price." Earlier this month he forecast the entry to be a reality in October this year.

 

"The APEC summit in Hanoi is not the deadline that we tie ourselves into it and accept the irrational demands of the partners," the minister reaffirmed, adding Vietnam has hoped to join the WTO early enough to before the summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in mid-November.

 

The delay of Vietnam’s WTO accession stems from unsolved issues from its multi-lateral negotiations with the US and several trade partners.

 

On this occasion, Tuyen emphasized that the country’s WTO membership will bring about "huge opportunities" and also pose a lot of challenges to Vietnam's domestic industries.

 

Vietnam and the US in May signed an agreement that removed some of the final hurdles in Vietnam's bid to join the WTO. However, the US Congress must still grant Vietnam "normal permanent trading relations" for that agreement to take effect. Another round of multilateral talks about remaining issues between US and Vietnamese negotiators is scheduled to take place next month.

 

In a related move, as many as 20 US representatives on September 21 signed a letter to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, calling for swift consideration and approval of the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Vietnam.

 

“We urge you to call for swift action in the Ways and Means Committee and full floor consideration of H.R. 5602, a bill to grant PNTR to Vietnam. We hope this will be accomplished without delay,” said the letter.

 

It went on to say that “Vietnam is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing countries in the world. With over 83 million people, Vietnam offers tremendous promise for US farmers, workers, and businesses.”

 

“US businesses and agricultural producers, in our districts and elsewhere, are eager to take advantages of these terms, which only come into effect for them once Congress grants Vietnam PNTR and Vietnam joins the World Trade Organization (WTO). We are therefore eager for the Congress to approve legislation to do so,” according to the letter.

 

“Time is running out to complete congressional consideration of the PNTR bill before President Bush travels to Hanoi in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting. Failure to grant Vietnam PNTR before that time has the potential to undermine US prestige in such an important region of the world” concluded the letter.