The Vietnam News Agency has talked with Luong Hoang Thai, head of theMinistry of Industry and Trade’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department,on some of the challenges facing Vietnam during the negotiations for theTrans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (TPP).
The official said all involved countries so far have progressed to thefinal phase of the negotiation process, and they are making efforts totechnically conclude the negotiations in the first quarter or early inthe second quarter this year in order to submit it to the leaders forapproval.
He noted that the TPP is a treaty of avery high standard, perhaps even an unprecedented standard, and thiscauses difficulties for most of the countries involved, especially insome key fields such as protecting intellectual property rights oropening up the goods market.
According to Thai,Vietnam’s biggest difficulty is how to get other countries to opentheir market to Vietnamese goods and services at a degree at whichVietnamese enterprises can exploit in the future, especially for mainexport commodities like garments and textiles, footwear, agro-productsand seafood.
He continued to say that anotherbig challenge is that Vietnam has to adjust laws to suit internationalstandards, especially in intellectual property protection and customsmanagement. Vietnam also has to amend laws on labour to conform to thecriteria of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), he added.
Responding to opinions that little information is available for thedomestic business circle regarding the TPP, the official said one of therules of the negotiation process is that all member nations have tokeep negotiation information secret until the end of the process.
He added that given the TPP’s expected great impacts on thedomestic economy and business community, the Prime Minister hasinstructed negotiation agencies to regularly consult those directlyinfluenced by these agreements.
Accordingly, theMinistry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has coordinated with otherministries to collect information and feedback from business communitiesacross the country, Thai said, adding that the ministry has alsoconsulted business representative via the Vietnam Chamber of Commerceand Industry or related trade associations on each specific issue.
He said in the coming time, the MoIT and the negotiation delegationwill continue to collect opinions from enterprises, while timely makeinformation available in line with the negotiation’s rule, soenterprises can prepare to take advantage of the TPP as quickly aspossible.
The TPP is one of the world’s biggestFree-Trade Agreement (FTA) with the combined gross domestic product(GDP) of all 12 participant countries accounting for 40 percent of theglobal GDP.-VNA
The official said all involved countries so far have progressed to thefinal phase of the negotiation process, and they are making efforts totechnically conclude the negotiations in the first quarter or early inthe second quarter this year in order to submit it to the leaders forapproval.
He noted that the TPP is a treaty of avery high standard, perhaps even an unprecedented standard, and thiscauses difficulties for most of the countries involved, especially insome key fields such as protecting intellectual property rights oropening up the goods market.
According to Thai,Vietnam’s biggest difficulty is how to get other countries to opentheir market to Vietnamese goods and services at a degree at whichVietnamese enterprises can exploit in the future, especially for mainexport commodities like garments and textiles, footwear, agro-productsand seafood.
He continued to say that anotherbig challenge is that Vietnam has to adjust laws to suit internationalstandards, especially in intellectual property protection and customsmanagement. Vietnam also has to amend laws on labour to conform to thecriteria of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), he added.
Responding to opinions that little information is available for thedomestic business circle regarding the TPP, the official said one of therules of the negotiation process is that all member nations have tokeep negotiation information secret until the end of the process.
He added that given the TPP’s expected great impacts on thedomestic economy and business community, the Prime Minister hasinstructed negotiation agencies to regularly consult those directlyinfluenced by these agreements.
Accordingly, theMinistry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has coordinated with otherministries to collect information and feedback from business communitiesacross the country, Thai said, adding that the ministry has alsoconsulted business representative via the Vietnam Chamber of Commerceand Industry or related trade associations on each specific issue.
He said in the coming time, the MoIT and the negotiation delegationwill continue to collect opinions from enterprises, while timely makeinformation available in line with the negotiation’s rule, soenterprises can prepare to take advantage of the TPP as quickly aspossible.
The TPP is one of the world’s biggestFree-Trade Agreement (FTA) with the combined gross domestic product(GDP) of all 12 participant countries accounting for 40 percent of theglobal GDP.-VNA
