Hanoi (VNA) - The fifth round of in-person negotiations on the Vietnam – US Reciprocal Trade Agreement concluded after the three-day session from November 12 to 14 in Washington DC, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has reported.
Vietnam’s negotiating delegation was led by Minister of Industry and Trade and Government Chief Negotiator Nguyen Hong Dien, joined by members of the negotiating team and representatives from the Ministries of Public Security, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Home Affairs, Agriculture and Environment, Science and Technology, and Justice, and the State Bank of Vietnam.
During the talks, the Vietnamese and US delegations made major progress on multiple issues, including services, digital trade, agriculture, technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), while narrowing differences on outstanding matters.
In the closing session, representatives from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the Vietnamese negotiating team stated that the talks yielded positive results, laying a favourable foundation for the early conclusion of the Vietnam – US Reciprocal Trade Agreement.
Notably, the US side highly valued the goodwill, effort and creative approach of the Vietnamese delegation, particularly the results of the direct meeting between Minister Dien and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held immediately before the official technical negotiation session. Responding to Vietnam’s proposals, the US side offered initial positive feedback and indicated it could consider further steps based on the overall negotiation outcome.
The two sides also agreed on follow-up work after this round and consented to hold several online meetings in the coming days to continue addressing outstanding issues and prepare for a virtual ministerial-level negotiation between Greer and Dien, slated for later in November.
Besides the negotiations, Minister Dien held working sessions with the US Under Secretary of State, members of the House of Representatives including the Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and met with leaders of major US technology and semiconductor companies as well as the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), to promote bilateral economic, investment and trade cooperation, and call for support for Vietnam’s reciprocal trade negotiations./.
