WTO willing to sketch Vietnam’s integration roadmap

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is willing to lend Vietnam a helping hand in designing roadmap for each specific phase of its integration into the world economy, the WTO chief has said.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Geneva , Switzerland , on January 25.

The WTO chief urged Vietnam to continue to perfect its legal system to meet WTO standards.

Three years since its WTO admission, Vietnam has attained hordes of economic achievements, especially GDP growth, and those in trade, FDI attraction, and tourism, Lamy said.

He also highlighted Vietnam for posting a positive GDP growth rate in 2009 when the financial crisis and economic recession lingered their impacts globally.

Regarding the Doha talks, the WTO official emphasised that once the round of negotiations succeeds, it will work to both stimulate the global economy and speed up the world’s financial reform.

Accordingly, he said he hoped Vietnam and other ASEAN members would act as the medium to push the Doha negotiations to end as scheduled.

For his part, Prime Minister Dung said as the ASEAN Chair in 2010, Vietnam and other members of the grouping hope that the Doha talks will wrap up in 2010 with an equal result, which takes the benefit of developing and underdeveloped countries into consideration.

The early end of the Doha round will open up opportunities for trade facilitation, helping improve market entry capacity and cut subsidies, PM Dung told the WTO official.

The Vietnamese leader said Vietnam ’s serious adhesion to its WTO commitments over the past three years has provided a proof of its wide and deep integration into the international trade system and positive contributions to the world’s largest trade organisation.

On the occasion, PM Dung thanked Lamy for his assistance to Vietnam in its WTO-related activities and said he hoped the WTO chief would continue giving both attention and assistance to the country to help facilitate its deeper participation into the WTO agreements.

He also said he expected the WTO to continue backing the idea of dispensing the WTO’s new members from undertaking obligations to implement new commitments of the Doha talks.

VietNamNet/VNA

Tags: Vietnam cooperation, Vietnam economy news