The latest round of TPP negotiations was wrapped up in Utah, Salk Lakecity, the US on November 26, opening up opportunities for concernedparties to reduce disagreements before the TPP Ministerial Meeting isdue to open in Singapore next month.
Radio the Voiceof Vietnam (VOV) interviewed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade TranQuoc Khanh, chief negotiator for the TPP on the progress ofnegotiations.
* As scheduled, the round ofnegotiations in Brunei in August was the last one. Could you elaborateon the latest round in Utah, its main contents and goals?
This was an additional one, not on the agenda, but focused on resolving outstanding issues to a certain extent.
We planned to conclude our negotiations in Brunei in late August.However, there remain snags in some issues. So the latest round ofnegotiations aimed to resettle them. We tried our best to reducedisagreement before the ministerial meeting is held in Singapore fromDecember 7-10.
* Did you see any progress by comparison with the set targets?
The one-week session led to positive progress in many issues such asintellectual property, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), labour andenvironment.
However, the most crucial snag faced by Vietnam and other TPP nations is related to goods.
To ease the situation, Vietnam affirmed that the export of goods isthe country’s keen interest and there should be positive progress in thenegotiations of goods so that the country could consider and makedecisions on other issues including political decisions.
* What are the outstanding issues on the agenda of the upcoming Ministerial Meeting in Singapore next month?
In my opinion, it is important for ministers to make decisions on theissue of goods which is of common concern to many nations.
Ministers have to make tough decisions as well as concessions aboutsome important goods like Vietnam’s garment and textile and footwear,New Zealand’s milk, Australia’s sugar and Japan’s automobiles.
Only when there is progress in this field, can ministers makedecisions on the other issues such as intellectual property, SOEs,environment, labour. These are complicated issues and they will have towork hard on a comprehensive tariff package for negotiation groups tofinish their work.
Other issues are related to foodand safety hygiene, and technical barriers in trade. Ministers shouldalso devise different tariff packages in order to conclude thenegotiations.
* As the chief negotiator for TPP,what do you think about the possibility of concluding TPP negotiationslate this year as committed by concerned parties?
From now till the end of 2013, there is only a ministerial meeting inSingapore - the last chance for ministers to consider and make importantdecisions. If we look forward to a comprehensive agreement, it is notready for concerned parties to sign. But if we only hope for some basicagreement reached by ministers, negotiation groups should sit togetherto think about the wording and conclude the agreement at the meeting.
From my perspective, ministers have to work hard tosolve the outstanding issues. They should have bilateral discussionsduring the four-day meeting in Singapore. I hope that the meeting willcontribute to ironing out snags in negotiations for the final agreement.-VNA
Radio the Voiceof Vietnam (VOV) interviewed Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade TranQuoc Khanh, chief negotiator for the TPP on the progress ofnegotiations.
* As scheduled, the round ofnegotiations in Brunei in August was the last one. Could you elaborateon the latest round in Utah, its main contents and goals?
This was an additional one, not on the agenda, but focused on resolving outstanding issues to a certain extent.
We planned to conclude our negotiations in Brunei in late August.However, there remain snags in some issues. So the latest round ofnegotiations aimed to resettle them. We tried our best to reducedisagreement before the ministerial meeting is held in Singapore fromDecember 7-10.
* Did you see any progress by comparison with the set targets?
The one-week session led to positive progress in many issues such asintellectual property, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), labour andenvironment.
However, the most crucial snag faced by Vietnam and other TPP nations is related to goods.
To ease the situation, Vietnam affirmed that the export of goods isthe country’s keen interest and there should be positive progress in thenegotiations of goods so that the country could consider and makedecisions on other issues including political decisions.
* What are the outstanding issues on the agenda of the upcoming Ministerial Meeting in Singapore next month?
In my opinion, it is important for ministers to make decisions on theissue of goods which is of common concern to many nations.
Ministers have to make tough decisions as well as concessions aboutsome important goods like Vietnam’s garment and textile and footwear,New Zealand’s milk, Australia’s sugar and Japan’s automobiles.
Only when there is progress in this field, can ministers makedecisions on the other issues such as intellectual property, SOEs,environment, labour. These are complicated issues and they will have towork hard on a comprehensive tariff package for negotiation groups tofinish their work.
Other issues are related to foodand safety hygiene, and technical barriers in trade. Ministers shouldalso devise different tariff packages in order to conclude thenegotiations.
* As the chief negotiator for TPP,what do you think about the possibility of concluding TPP negotiationslate this year as committed by concerned parties?
From now till the end of 2013, there is only a ministerial meeting inSingapore - the last chance for ministers to consider and make importantdecisions. If we look forward to a comprehensive agreement, it is notready for concerned parties to sign. But if we only hope for some basicagreement reached by ministers, negotiation groups should sit togetherto think about the wording and conclude the agreement at the meeting.
From my perspective, ministers have to work hard tosolve the outstanding issues. They should have bilateral discussionsduring the four-day meeting in Singapore. I hope that the meeting willcontribute to ironing out snags in negotiations for the final agreement.-VNA
