Amcham chief says Vietnam trade pact years off
HANOI- Thomas Donohue, head of
the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said on
Friday that Vietnam was still years away from closing a
landmark trade pact with the United States.
``I'm optimistic that (the U.S.) is going to have a trade
pact with Vietnam...but its only going to come when
reforms have begun,'' he told reporters.
``I'm sure that in a number of years it's going to get
done...but if anyone thinks it's going to happen next
month they're wrong,'' he said.
Washington-based Donohue, who is the Chamber's
president and chief executive officer, was speaking to
reporters after delivering a speech to members of the
Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of
Commerce who had gathered in Hanoi for a semi-annual
meeting.
He said that Vietnam's population of 78 million made it
too large a market to ignore and a trade deal was in the
best interests of both nations.
Since Washington and Hanoi established diplomatic ties
in mid-1995 -- three decades after the end of the
Vietnam War -- the two sides have embarked on talks
for three major business-related agreements.
Aside from ongoing talks for the comprehensive trade
pact, a bid to close a bilateral aviation agreement
foundered earlier this year over market access issues.
The one major success was the signing of a copyright
agreement last year, but implementation has been
delayed after Hanoi failed to provide assurances the pact
would be enforced. Washington is currently assessing
Hanoi's latest documents on the issue.
Communist Vietnam has yet to feel the full force of the
Asian whirlwind that has devastated economies across
the region, largely due to the underdevelopment of the
market and the non-convertibility of the dong currency.
But the country's economic indicators have dipped, and
this year the World Bank estimates gross domestic
product growth could be as low as three percent, down
from 1997's 8.8 percent.
In his speech Donohue cited a lack of transparency,
undeveloped legal systems, over-regulation, bureaucracy
and corruption as being major disincentives to doing
business in the country.
But he added that the ruling communist party faced
serious ideological concerns that would be difficult to
reconcile.
``The more they respond to these issues the more they
become an entrepreneurial, democratic and free-trade
based society. That's very difficult for them to handle,''
he said.
``(But) if they keep all these rules, regulations and
impediments to business...capital and investment and
economic opportunities are going to go to other places,''
he added.
Reuters - October 09, 1998.
|