GENEVA (Reuters) - Communist Vietnam, one of the world's fastest growing economies, won formal approval from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday to become its 150th member by the end of the year.
The executive General Council approved a deal struck late last month by the WTO's working party on Vietnam's accession, a formality because the working party is open to all WTO states with an interest in the negotiation.
Vietnam, a country of 82 million people, will officially become part of the WTO, which sets the rules for global trade, 30 days after its National Assembly ratifies the accords.
"Today is a memorable day in the process of the international economic integration of Vietnam," Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem told a news conference.
Vietnam, an exporter of textiles, seafood, coffee and furniture, negotiated to join the 149-state WTO for 12 years while its once state-controlled economy underwent deep reform.
Although its economy is relatively small, with gross domestic product of $61 billion this year, it is the latest of Asia's economic success stories and has become a big favorite of the foreign aid and investment communities.
Average economic growth of 7.4 percent over the past five years is higher than any other Asian country except China, its Communist neighbor whose economic output has soared since it joined the WTO in late 2001.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called the deal "fairly balanced" and said the big advantage for Vietnam was that it could expand trade protected by WTO rules.
"Those who are members compete on a more level playing field," he said when asked for the benefits to Hanoi.
COURAGE
But membership of the WTO will not protect Vietnam from anti-dumping actions by rich nations, such as the extra duties imposed by the European Union on its shoes and by the United States on its shrimp exports.
In the 1960s and early 1970s the United States waged war against communist North Vietnam and its guerrilla supporters in the south who together took over the whole country in 1973. Now it praised Hanoi's "courage" during the marathon entry talks.
The deal includes the tariffs and quotas Vietnam will apply to foreign imports, the ceilings it will apply on subsidies to its farm sector, and timetables for reducing them.
It also specifies services such as banking, insurance and telecommunications that Vietnam will open to outside providers and spells out limits to the restrictions it can impose on foreign ownership of firms inside the country.
Vietnam's neighbor Cambodia joined the WTO in 2004 despite warnings from regional economists that it had conceded too much in the negotiations and risked having its domestic firms and farms ruined by foreign competition.
Vietnam's accession will leave only a handful of important economies outside the WTO, including Russia and Ukraine, which are both negotiating entry, and Iran.
Vietnam will move further into the mainstream of trade diplomacy on November 17-18 when it hosts a Hanoi summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a body which includes the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
(Additional reporting by Robert Evans in Geneva and Grant McCool in Hanoi)
The executive General Council approved a deal struck late last month by the WTO's working party on Vietnam's accession, a formality because the working party is open to all WTO states with an interest in the negotiation.
Vietnam, a country of 82 million people, will officially become part of the WTO, which sets the rules for global trade, 30 days after its National Assembly ratifies the accords.
"Today is a memorable day in the process of the international economic integration of Vietnam," Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem told a news conference.
Vietnam, an exporter of textiles, seafood, coffee and furniture, negotiated to join the 149-state WTO for 12 years while its once state-controlled economy underwent deep reform.
Although its economy is relatively small, with gross domestic product of $61 billion this year, it is the latest of Asia's economic success stories and has become a big favorite of the foreign aid and investment communities.
Average economic growth of 7.4 percent over the past five years is higher than any other Asian country except China, its Communist neighbor whose economic output has soared since it joined the WTO in late 2001.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called the deal "fairly balanced" and said the big advantage for Vietnam was that it could expand trade protected by WTO rules.
"Those who are members compete on a more level playing field," he said when asked for the benefits to Hanoi.
COURAGE
But membership of the WTO will not protect Vietnam from anti-dumping actions by rich nations, such as the extra duties imposed by the European Union on its shoes and by the United States on its shrimp exports.
In the 1960s and early 1970s the United States waged war against communist North Vietnam and its guerrilla supporters in the south who together took over the whole country in 1973. Now it praised Hanoi's "courage" during the marathon entry talks.
The deal includes the tariffs and quotas Vietnam will apply to foreign imports, the ceilings it will apply on subsidies to its farm sector, and timetables for reducing them.
It also specifies services such as banking, insurance and telecommunications that Vietnam will open to outside providers and spells out limits to the restrictions it can impose on foreign ownership of firms inside the country.
Vietnam's neighbor Cambodia joined the WTO in 2004 despite warnings from regional economists that it had conceded too much in the negotiations and risked having its domestic firms and farms ruined by foreign competition.
Vietnam's accession will leave only a handful of important economies outside the WTO, including Russia and Ukraine, which are both negotiating entry, and Iran.
Vietnam will move further into the mainstream of trade diplomacy on November 17-18 when it hosts a Hanoi summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a body which includes the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
(Additional reporting by Robert Evans in Geneva and Grant McCool in Hanoi)
1 comment:
Who give a fuck about Communists or terrrorists! The WTO welcome them all! ahahahahahahahah!
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