Lawmakers become more involved in FTA negotiations
Speaking at the Ho Chi Minh City talks, Ngo Duc Manh, deputy head of
the committee, said that the supply will help increase the deputies’
awareness of FTAs and make the approval of an FTA easier when it is
submitted to the NA.
Participants agreed that
the connection between negotiators, NA deputies and businesses is an
effective way to raise the efficiency of the negotiation process.
Silvia Hernandez, former Tourism Minister of Mexico and USAID expert,
said that with a different name in each country, the legislative body
always participates constructively and has its particular power in
concretising FTAs for the benefits of each nation and its locals.
Participants also exchanged views on a new generation of FTAs, their
influences on Vietnam, as well as opportunities and challenges they will
provide the country.
Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said that a new-generation FTA, which
is being pursued by the US and the European Union, does not limit trade
to goods exchanges but expands to services, investment and intellectual
property.
Khanh also stressed the need for
Vietnam to participate in FTA negotiations in order to diversify and
rebalance the country’s export markets as well as to serve its ongoing
economic restructuring and growth model reform.
To date, Vietnam has signed eight FTAs, while seven others are under negotiation.-VNA