Vietnam hits at ‘unfair’ demands by WTO partners
HANOI - Vietnam complained on Thursday that key trading partners were making “unfair” demands, particularly for liberalisation of the sensitive service sector, in the difficult negotiations over Hanoi's accession to the World Trade Organisation.
Vu Khoan, the country's deputy prime minister and leading trade negotiator, said Vietnam, which hopes to join the WTO by the end of this year, was being asked for concessions that had yet to be made even by existing WTO members in the current Doha round of negotiations.
“It is just not fair,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “Vietnam is a developing country with a low level of development, but during the concrete negotiations some partners have made very high demands . . . even demands that are higher than WTO standards.”
The biggest stumbling block to Vietnam's accession now appears to be its old wartime enemy but now its single biggest export market, the US.
Despite the trip to Washington last month by Phan Van Khai, Vietnamese prime minister, in the highest-level visit since the communist victory in 1975, the two countries are still arguing over the terms of Vietnam's WTO accession.
Sticking points include US demands for Vietnam to open the telecommunications sector which Hanoi apparently considers a security threat and to liberalise other services such as import and distribution and banking, those familiar with the talks say. The US also wants Vietnam to fulfil its promises to crack down on piracy of books, videos and other intellectual property.
The two countries, which must conclude a bilateral deal as part of the accession process, are scheduled to hold another round of talks at the end of this month and Mr Khoan said he was optimistic about the outcome.
“President Bush voiced very strong support for Vietnam's accession,” he said. “And at the negotiating table we are also making very substantive progress.”
But foreign businesspeople in Hanoi doubt Vietnam will be able to bridge its differences with the US in time to join the WTO this year.
Vietnam has already concluded bilateral agreements with the EU, Japan, South Korea and other trade partners on the terms of its accession, and Mr Khoan said Hanoi was also close to finalising deals with India and China, Vietnam's biggest trading partner.
But Vietnam is still negotiating with Australia, and those familiar with the accession process say the EU has referred some tough outstanding issues such as the liberalisation of distribution to the multilateral negotiating forum, rather than negotiate them on a bilateral basis.
Although difficult talks certainly lie ahead, Mr Khoan said WTO membership remained essential for the modernisation of Vietnam, which fears that it will not be able to grow fast enough to create enough jobs for its youthful, ambitious population.
“We cannot develop without the world market,” he said. “We want to integrate so we can have greater market access, better access to capital and also greater access to advanced technology and gain access to new managerial skills.”
By Amy Kazmin & Victor Mallet - The Financial Times - July 15, 2005.
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