Vietnamese legislature approves WTO accession document

The National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam, the country's top legislature, approved a protocol on Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization, according to Vietnam News Agency on Tuesday.

After the protocol's ratification, Vietnam, whose accession terms were approved by WTO's General Council on Nov. 7, will officially become the organization's 150th member in the next 30 days.

During a NA session on Tuesday, Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen, on behalf of the government, said after the accession, a number of Vietnamese enterprises can face difficulties, even bankruptcy, resulting in higher unemployment rate. Such effects, however, are partial and short-term, he stated.

According to the trade minister, local industries to face biggest pressure include securities trading, banking, goods distribution and sea transport assistance. The agriculture will also encounter big competition pressure due to its small scale with low productivity. The garment and textile industry will benefit from the WTO entry, since its exports will be no longer subject to quota regimes.

The protocol contains many commitments Vietnam has made in the fields of trade in goods and services, intellectual property and investment. The government will map out a specific action plan to take advantages of the WTO accession and minimize its negative effects.

Under the WTO commitments, Vietnam will lower the average import tax of all tariff lines from current 17.4 percent to 13.4 percent gradually within 5-7 years upon the WTO accession. Specifically, over one third of all 10,600 tariff lines, mainly those having tax rates of more than 20 percent, are subject to tax reduction and removal.

Products slated for biggest tax reductions include garment, textiles, fishes and related products, wood, paper, some kinds of manufactured goods, machines, and electrical and electronic equipment.

The average import tariff levied on farm produces is to decrease from current 23.5 percent to 20.9 percent within 5 years, and that on industrial products will be slashed from current 16.8 percent to 12.6 percent within 5-7 years.

However, Vietnam will still remain certain protection on major products, including farm produces, cement, steel, construction material, automobile and motorbike. It will also maintain placement of quota tariffs on the four imports: sugar, poultry egg, tobacco and salt.

Regarding services commitments, Vietnam, in some cases, reserves the right to limit foreign ownership of service companies operating in the country. In some telecommunications services the eventual limits can be 49 percent or 65 percent, depending on the service.

In a few cases like accountancy, permitted foreign ownership is immediately 100 percent. In many cases, the permitted foreign ownership is phased in to reach 100 percent after a few years: express delivery courier services after five years, for instance.

Source: Xinhua