Vietnam misses first date with WTO
HANOI - This December should have been a historic month for Vietnam but instead, celebrations have been put on hold after it became clear Southeast Asian country would not be joining the World Trade Organisation this year as hoped. Until recently, senior officials brushed off growing scepticism by insisting Vietnam's accession would take place at the WTO's December ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. But now they are openly admitting that Vietnam will not join the world body until next year.
"It's possible to conclude negotiations at the end of the year ... (but) it's impossible for Vietnam to become a member of the WTO this year," said Le Thanh Lam of the National Committee on International Economic Cooperation.
Vietnam has unfinished business in the form of bilateral agreements which it must sign with all WTO members who want them. Some countries, including the United States, are yet to put pen to paper.
It was a key question raised by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai during his landmark visit to the United States in June, the first visit by a sitting Vietnamese leader since the Vietnam War.
Khai won US President George W. Bush's backing in principal for the agreement, but American negotiators have hit several stumbling blocks.
They notably want Vietnam to take action on certain import taxes, safeguard intellectual property rights and give foreign companies larger access to markets from telecoms to tourism, insurance and banking.
Washington is also concerned that Vietnam has failed fully to implement the US-Vietnam bilateral trade agreement struck five years ago.
"US officials argue that Vietnam has defaulted on several of its BTA commitments," said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.
"The key concern remains over Vietnam's ability to follow through and implement its obligations."
Hanoi has accused the US of "making trouble" over its bid, blaming Washington for its failure to realise the long-held goal of joining the WTO in December.
"The fact that the United States are still making difficulties on the negotiating table is an attitude that lacks goodwill," WTO ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan told the Tuoi Tre newspaper last Saturday.
"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."
Some foreign analysts however say the communist country realised too late how much it would have to reform to join the international capitalist network.
"Vietnam announced in 1995 they wanted to join WTO and then they sat on their hands and did nothing for five or six years to get in. And now they're looking for a scapegoat to blame, although they can only blame themselves," said Thomas O'Dore, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi.
For several months, many observers have been saying that the National Assembly simply had too much work to do in passing the necessary legislative reforms before December.
And nobody seems ready to accept Hanoi's candidature before the reforms have been realised since China, after joining the body in 2001, then missed several of its obligations.
"China got in based on promises and they have reneged on their promises," said O'Dore.
He said all countries trying to join, including Russia, were now suffering the after-effects of the WTO's bad experiences with China.
"You have to show action, passing laws and implementing laws before being accepted," he said.
Vietnam has now set its sights on joining in 2006, the 20th anniversary of its economic opening-up and transition towards a market economy.
Agence France Presse - October 25, 2005.
|