VIETNAM BECOMES 150th MEMBER OF WTO
Vietnam on 11 January became the 150th member of the WTO, 30 days after ratifying its accession agreement.
The last hurdle to normalised trading relations between Hanoi and the US also fell, when Washington withdrew its invocation of a WTO provision that allowed it to refrain from applying multilateral rules to its trade relations with Vietnam. Before it could do so, the US government had to wait for Congress to approve ‘permanent normal trading relations’ with Vietnam. This happened in December, during the ‘lame-duck’ session of the former Congress.
Vietnam’s accession caps twelve years of negotiations which wrapped up this fall. WTO Members finished negotiating the terms of Vietnam’s membership on 26 October; the WTO General Council formally approved its entry into the international trade body on 7 November (see BRIDGES Weekly, 8 November 2006).
Immediately upon its accession, Vietnam reduced tariffs on some 1800 categories of products, including textiles, jewellery, footwear, and automobiles. Under its new membership obligations, it will be required to scrap certain subsidies and other protective trade barriers as well. In exchange, other WTO members will be open up their economies to Vietnamese imports, and Vietnam will have recourse to WTO laws and institutions in settling trade disputes.
"In the WTO, when people work hard, things happen - and Vietnam is a good example of that," said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy of the country’s accession. He suggested that similar determination would be necessary for Members to successfully conclude the troubled Doha Round negotiations.
"After Jan 11: tariffs lower, but goods prices unchanged," VNECONOMY, 4 January 2007; "Bush signs Vietnam trade bill," BANGKOK POST, 20 December 2006; "Viet Nam joins WTO with Director-General’s tribute for true grit," WTO NEWS, 11 January 2007.