Viet Nam’s membership deal possible by end of month, chair says

“Today marks the final stage of Viet Nam’s accession process,” Norwegian Ambassador Eirik Glenne, chairperson of Viet Nam’s membership working party, told delegates in a brief formal meeting.

“For the first time, we have in front of us the complete package of documents representing Viet Nam’s terms of membership to the WTO. … Clearly this working party is now very close to completion.”

Ambassador Glenne urged members to sort out any remaining issues in all three key documents by the end of the week (13 October). This would allow revised versions to be circulated the following week and the working party to meet before the end of the month.

He proposed a final formal meeting of the working party on 26 October to agree on the package.

“This means that very intensive work must be carried out this week to close all the remaining issues,” Ambassador Glenne said. “I recognize it is tight, but we have no alternative.”

The chairperson was not specific, but in principle, this schedule would allow the General Council to adopt the package in early November, although Viet Nam would not become a member until 30 days after it has ratified the package and informed the WTO that it has done so.

“Of course, this calendar is subject to all things going well — and I would underscore that, subject to all things going well — but as your chairman I have to lay down the way ahead,” he concluded.

The three key documents are:
 

• Viet Nam’s commitments on goods — particularly its commitments on tariffs and on agricultural subsidies

• Viet Nam’s commitments on services — which services it is giving access to foreign service providers and any additional conditions, including limits on foreign ownership

• The Working party’s report — describing Viet Nam’s legal and institutional set up for trade, along with commitments it has made in many of these areas.

Ambassador Glenne said he would hold consultations on all of these documents through the week. No one else spoke in the formal meeting.

 

back to top

Goods 

Closest to agreement are the commitments on goods. These are the outcome of Viet Nam’s own offers and the bilateral negotiations with a number of WTO members, which were completed in May 2006.

The commitments are applied multilaterally — i.e. to all WTO members — and compiled in a 560-page “Schedule of Concessions and Commitments on Goods”.

The document lists tariffs on thousands of products, which are legally bound in the WTO. In some cases Viet Nam is delaying the tariff cuts, and the committed dates for achieving the reductions are included. The document also includes non-tariff commitments, notably quotas, on one group of products — salt — and commitments on agricultural subsidies.

Viet Nam has also agreed to duty-free imports on information technology products under the Information Technology Agreement, which has been signed by only a sub-set of WTO members. On some products the duties will fall to zero over periods ranging from 2008 to 2014. The WTO’s Information Technology Agreement Committee has already approved Viet Nam’s commitments in July 2006.

 

back to top

Services and the working party report  

The draft services commitments (“Schedule of Commitments on Services”) was only circulated on the day of the meeting and included text that has still not been agreed, indicated by square brackets. Calling for negotiators to sort out their differences, Ambassador Glenne said: “I know this does not leave much time, but we all know this is doable.”

The latest draft of the working party report contains “a comprehensive revision” and “reflects the work done by various delegations and the Vietnamese team over the summer break,” the chairperson said. It also contains a number of square brackets indicating parts of the text that have not yet been agreed.

 

back to top

Next 

“… subject to all things going well …”

• Intensive consultations through the week. Proposed text amendments from delegations by 13 October.
  
  
• 18 October: revised/final drafts to be circulated
  
  
• 26 October: formal working party meeting
  
  
• Shortly after: General Council special meeting (needs 10 days advance notice)

 

back to top

Background 

Working party members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, European Union and member states, Honduras, Hong Kong China, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Uruguay.  

Chairperson: Ambassador Eirik Glenne (Norway)

Viet Nam’s Working Party was established on 31 January 1995. The previous formal meeting was on 19 July 2006. Drafts of all three key documents have now been circulated.