Doha round stall a benefit

Nicole Wyrch, senior policy advisor from the International Development Economics and Service Centre (IDEAS) spoke from Geneva during a video conference hosted by World Bank’s Hanoi office last week.
“The Doha round still has a lot of debate in store and this is good for Vietnam,” she said.
She said the round would not be finished next year because the US was preoccupied with its presidential election and the EU was concentrating on admitting new members.
The Doha round of negotiations remained bogged down in controversy over agricultural issues and the situation would give Vietnam the advantage of more time to prepare its own WTO entry, she said.
Ngo Quang Xuan, Vietnam’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Office and other international organisations at Geneva, said he shared that view.
He said most WTO experts he had spoken to believed the Doha round would be prolonged to mid-2006.
“Despite this advantage, Vietnam still has to speed up its preparations such as the detailed integration roadmap for each goods group,” Xuan said.
Since the seventh negotiation session to enter the WTO, held at the end of 2003, Vietnam and WTO members have negotiated on the tax levied on each goods group.
However, most ministries and institutions in the country have only developed their general integration roadmap so far, which has made it difficult for Vietnam’s negotiators to accelerate the negotiation process.
“I wish the ministers would be questioned about their ministries’ detailed integration roadmaps in the next National Assembly session,” Xuan said.
Xuan said the government should promote three main things to speed Vietnam’s WTO entry.
Negotiations with ASEAN countries to complete the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the implementation of Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement and bilateral negotiations with WTO members were all priorities, he said.
“The government should take any opportunities to persuade each WTO member to cut down their strict requirements for Vietnam,” he said.
According to Xuan, some developing countries in the previous negotiation sessions gave Vietnam unreasonably severe requirements.
“The Vietnamese economy has good potential, but it should not be considered bigger than its current scale,” he said.
Wyrch advised Vietnam to eliminate its agricultural export subsidy policy because WTO countries would not accept a new member subsidising its exports while other countries don’t have that right.
“Vietnam should move to the price subsidy system of using 10 per cent of total production value, which is currently used by WTO countries to support farmers,” she said.
Vietnam’s eighth negotiation session to join the WTO is expected to take place in May 2004 in Geneva. Vietnam submitted its application to join the WTO in early 1995 and started its first negotiation session at the end of 1996.