|
Vietnamese Deputy PM Eyes WTO; Optimistic About US Talks DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HANOI (AP)--Vietnam is engaged in talks with nearly 30 countries in its bid to join the World Trade Organization next year and has seen encouraging signs in negotiations with the U.S., Vietnam's deputy prime minister said Wednesday. Vu Khoan said the communist country is still striving to join the world trade body by the end of next year, having already secured bilateral agreements with five of the 147 members, and is engaged in ongoing talks with 27 other members. He said talks were expected to resume with the U.S. early next year and that U.S. President George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for Vietnam's accession over the weekend at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile. "I'm happy to see many positive signals in negotiations with the U.S.," Khoan said during a European Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Hanoi. Vietnam must obtain agreement from all WTO members before it can join. The government is working to speed up necessary legal and economic reforms and add more transparency to a system plagued by corruption. Vietnam received a major WTO boost last month during the Asia-Europe summit in Hanoi when it concluded a bilateral agreement with the 25-member European Union. Khoan said he also hopes EU quotas imposed on Vietnam's garment and textile imports will soon be lifted. Vietnam's push to join the WTO next year is largely hinged on the garment and textile quota issue, which will be phased out for trade body members. Those countries that remain outside the group stand to lose when competing against countries operating free of quotas. Khoan said a recent corruption scandal - in which a deputy trade minister and several other high-ranking officials have been arrested for allegedly abusing U.S. quota allotments - will only strengthen Vietnam's trade. "It will not create any cloud over the sky but make the sky clearer," he said. -Edited by Sharon Vong
|
