Vietnam unlikely to join WTO in december
HANOI - A top Vietnamese negotiator said Vietnam is unlikely to join the World Trade Organization when its ministers meet in Hong Kong in December because of "lack of goodwill" on the part of the United States in concluding negotiations with the communist country.
"At this moment, what we and many international partners expected (of Vietnam joining WTO in December) could not be realized," Saturday's Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Vietnamese ambassador to the WTO Ngo Quang Xuan as saying.
Xuan said Vietnam has done its best to meet WTO's accession requirements and has concluded negotiations with 21 WTO members including the EU, Japan and Canada, but it still has to finish negotiations with some other members including the United States, it said.
The ambassador blamed the United States for having too high demands in the multilateral and bilateral negotiations.
"The United States clearly understands Vietnam's abilities and also clearly understands that Vietnam cannot meet U.S. new demands," he said.
The United States in a recent round of talks in Geneva cited internal procedures for not being able to conclude the negotiations before December which Xuan said could be done if the U.S. was willing to do so.
The U.S. new demands in negotiations with Vietnam reflect "lack of goodwill," he said.
Vietnam, which has set the target of joining WTO by the end of this year, now hopes to join the world trade body before the conclusion of the Doha negotiations which are expected to be completed next year, he said.
The Associated Press - October 22, 2005.
Vietnam rounds on US over bid to join WTO
HANOI - A senior Vietnamese official has rounded on the US for "making trouble" over its bid to join the
World Trade Organization, which he said would not go ahead in December as had been hoped.
WTO ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan said in an interview with the Tuoi Tre newspaper on Saturday that it was "not possible" for Vietnam to join the global trade body when it holds its next ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.
But he said it was not Vietnam's fault that the communist nation had failed to conclude bilateral negotiations with some countries, singling out the United States.
"The fact that the United States are still making difficulties on the negotiating table is an attitude that lacks goodwill," Xuan said.
"It is not because Vietnam did not make enough efforts," he said. "We did everything we could and we overcame many difficulties (in Vietnam) and abroad."
Vietnam formally applied to join the WTO in 1995 but actual negotiations started only in 2002.
The country was under no formal pressure to join by the end of this year but has until very recently held December as its target.
Last month, the American ambassador to Vietnam said gaps persist between the two countries on the matter, notably criticising Vietnam for failing to fully implement the US-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement struck in 2000.
"Half-measures or doing on paper and not doing in practice are not in Vietnam's interests," Michael Marine said.
This week Prime Minister Phan Van Khai told the National Assembly it has to work harder on legal reforms to make the accession a reality.
"Preparations for admission to the World Trade Organisation do not meet requirements, especially in terms of legal reforms and improvement of competitiveness," Khai said.
Agence France Presse - October 22, 2005.
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