Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien (R) and Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal. (Photo: VNA) They also reviewed achievements at the WTO's 12thMinisterial Conference (MC12) which was held in Geneve last June.
Dien spoke highly of the conference’s results, and briefedthe WTO Director-General on Vietnam’s implementation of some major contentsreached at the event.
Host and guest also exchanged views on some topics of concern of Vietnam and other WTO member countries, including initiatives on WTOreform, and the Action on Climate and Trade (ACT).
The Vietnamese minister suggested the WTO soon reformitself strongly and practically, given the increasing trend of joining freetrade agreements or regional trade agreements, thus maintaining its role as thefoundation of a transparent, fair, rules-based multilateral trading system thatensures tangible benefits for countries.
Vietnam always values regulations of the multilateraltrading system and considers them the foundation for the establishment of FTA provisions,he said, noting that Vietnam hopes that certain suitable provisions in FTAswill be multilateralised, making the WTO stronger and capable of addressingemerging challenges in global trade.
For her part, Okonjo-Iweala lauded Vietnam'simpressive economic and trade growth, and called the country a "shiningexample" of economic growth based on international economic integrationachievements, thereby promoting trade and investment, and successfullyparticipating in the globalisation process, and reshaping regional andinternational supply chains.
The working session took place as part of her officialvisit to Vietnam from May 17-19, during which she paid a courtesy visit toPrime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and had meetings with representatives from theministries of foreign affairs, finance, and agriculture and rural development./.
VNA
