The agriculture and services sectors of a country of 84 million population with about 70 per cent being farmers will be most vulnerable to challenges in the post-WTO era, trade strategists have warned.
Vietnam’s WTO membership is nearing and is counted day by day [it is expected to be officially admitted into the global trade club at its General Council meeting on November 7], but its citizens are vaguely and not fully aware of the contents of the country’s WTO-entry bid documents as well as challenges and chances awaiting them ahead, Paul Tran Van Thinh, a Vietnamese-French trade expert, the EC’s first envoy raised concerns over.
Thinh stressed once being a WTO member, Vietnam will have to fulfill much higher requirements than other WTO predecessors, noting about 70 per cent of Vietnamese farmers including services providers will face tougher challenges while their counterparts in Japan, EU and the US are safe with strong and “unhealthy” protection measures.
Thinh reiterated during Vietnam’s WTO-accession negotiations, Oxfam in its report themed “Difficulties at Doors” pointed out all the tough challenges and disadvantages the agriculture and service sectors facing when the Southeast Asian country enters the global field.
At that time almost all mid-class consumers in Vietnam tend to choose cheap and high-quality produces from retailers and supermarket instead of buying those from street vendors.
Like Russia, Vietnam’s agriculture and service sectors will be tied to a “dilemma” and tougher challenges of the common globalization, Oxfam said.
Commitments to opening more the banking and finance sector while the country’s inner strength is too weak will threaten Vietnam and may turn it into a “colonized” market, Thinh said, warning Vietnam to be much more cautious about this possibility, Thinh said.
Thinh proposed the urgent jobs the Vietnamese government should immediately carry out now are raising public awareness of challenges exposed from WTO membership and publicize them widely for farmers.
To minimize challenges, Vietnam should do its utmost to improve the competitiveness of its businesses and goods, he also said.
The former envoy of the EC also acknowledged the benefits brought about with large menu of high-quality and cheap goods when the country joins the global field.
Anyway, he expressed his optimism about the prospects of the country, reaffirming that entering the WTO block does not mean the destination, but is the new departure for Vietnam, the second fastest economy in Asia, on the “global trade ocean”. On this ocean, Vietnam should tap high-tech technology, market knowledge and experience to master the world market by improving productivity and competitiveness.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen on October 29 highlighted that the toughest obstacles and challenges are how to raise the competitiveness of the whole economy, adding Vietnam’s relevant state agencies are hurrying to make public all the WTO-entry documents on the internet while improving the domestic business environment.
Discussion and approval of the country’s WTO-accession documents will be high on the agenda of Vietnam’s National Assembly’s ongoing working session, Tuyen said, associating Vietnam’s joining WTO with a “timely marriage”.
Once Vietnam’s membership has been approved, the country will then need further 30 days to ratify the deal.
Previously, Tuyen said the country had brought in 24 new laws and numerous regulations, including commercial, enterprise and intellectual property laws, and pledges to implement WTO agreements on sanitary measures and technical barriers to trade immediately, rather than the country’s original request to delay those for two years.
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