[Vacets-local-dc] [Vietnam must accelerate reforms ahead of WTO entry: British minister ]

[Hai Tran]

Posted: 16 March 2004 1628 hrs 

Vietnam must accelerate reforms ahead of WTO entry: British minister 



HANOI: Vietnam must accelerate its market-oriented reforms and improve its foreign investment climate if it wants to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) next year, according to Britain's deputy foreign minister Mike O'Brien.

Speaking in the southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City, O'Brien, whose official title is Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said Britain would support Hanoi's quest to join the global trade body.


"But significant challenges still lie ahead if Vietnam is to meet its ambitious target of accession in 2005," he said in his speech, a copy of which was sent to journalists.

The courts need robust laws to deal with commercial disputes and corruption, and which must be fairly and consistently applied to both the private or state-owned sector, O'Brien said.

Investment procedures need to be simplified and official statistics made more accessible and open while the communist nation's capital markets need modernising, he added.

"I say as a friend that their underdevelopment is a serious drag on the efficient deployment of local and foreign capital."

O'Brien, who arrived in Vietnam late Monday, said that while progress in proposed tariff rate reductions on industrial and fisheries products was encouraging, more needed to be done in other areas such as vehicles and parts.

"We are concerned that Vietnam has indicated that it proposes to maintain tariffs and duties on certain products and even apply new ones. This will make trade more restrictive and may deter investment.

He added: "If Vietnam is not to lose out to regional competitors, it needs to make itself more attractive to foreign investors."

The minister said access to Vietnam's service sector was the single biggest issue to be overcome in bilateral negotiations with Britain over Vietnam's WTO membership.

He insisted that British companies must be able "to operate on at least equal terms" to those under the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement that came into force in December 2001, prising open Vietnam's markets to US investors.

O'Brien's comments echo those presented to the government in December by foreign investors.

They highlighted poor governance, corruption, a lack of transparency, the absence of intellectual property rights enforcement, an unbalanced tax system and excessive bureaucracy as some of key issues to be addressed.

Before leaving Vietnam on Thursday, O'Brien is expected to meet a number of senior Vietnamese government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan and Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.

Diplomats say October's controversial Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which resulted in an acrimonious split between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over Myanmar's participation, will figure prominently in the talks.

Citing human rights concerns, the EU, and in particular Britain is opposed to ASEAN's demands that Myanmar takes part in the summit.

Britain is one of the largest European Union investors in Vietnam. Two way trade in 2003 totalled 1.2 billion dollars, according to the British Embassy.

- AFP








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