WTO door opens for Viet Nam!!!!
The World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s door has opened wide for Viet Nam with the fresh conclusion of the 14th session of multilateral negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The concerned parties will deal with remaining issues before the last negotiation session meets on either October 25 or 26 to approve bilateral and multilateral agreements, said Deputy Minister of Trade Luong Van Tu, head of the Vietnamese negotiation team. The WTO will consider the admittance of Viet Nam at its General Council's meeting early next month.
By finishing the 14th session of multilateral negotiations and having reached agreements with all 28 WTO members who require bilateral negotiations, Viet Nam has now entered the last stage of its long-lasting WTO negotiation process.
Viet Nam officially applied for WTO membership in 1995. Since then, the country has made great efforts to satisfy requirements of the WTO task force, especially WTO members who require bilateral negotiations.
According to Deputy Minister Tu, almost all partners acknowledged the Vietnamese National Assembly's recent efforts to revise laws in accordance with the country's administrative reform and economic renewal, as well as international practices.
In addition to revising existing legal documents, Viet Nam has promulgated more than 20 new laws and ordinances in order to comply with the WTO's regulations. These laws, including the Commercial Law, the Law on Intellectual Property Right, the Investment Law, the Enterprise Law and the Law on Competition, have been applauded by international partners.
Viet Nam was one of the first nations which has not only brought in new laws but also revised existing ones in order to make them conform with regulations of the WTO before joining the organisation.
Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen noted that although Viet Nam was a developing country and its economy was in a transitional process, its commitments were higher than those of other WTO members with the same level of development.
Viet Nam has even pledged to abolish export subsidies for its agricultural products right after the country becomes a WTO member, Tuyen stressed.
In both bilateral and multilateral negotiations, Viet Nam did its best to reach agreements on tariff reductions and market opening, especially on areas and goods considered to be sensitive to its economy.
While facing various difficulties in negotiations, the country has received great support in different fields from the international community, said the Vietnamese negotiation team.
It can be said that Viet Nam has overcome the hardest obstacles on the path of joining the WTO. However, local management agencies and businesses need to seek proper ways in order to effectively integrate into the global "playground", take full advantage of opportunities and minimise possible risks.
Source: Vietnam Agency
Conditional investment sectors
Pham Manh Dung, Director of the Legislative Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), spent time to talk about the list of conditional investment sectors specified in the two long-awaited guiding decrees of the Investment Law.
Could you talk more about conditional investment sectors, which draws special attention of foreign investors?
The Government’s Decree No.108/2006ND-CP dated September 22, 2006 lists 14 conditional investment sectors for foreign investors, which include banking, insurance, telecom, providing services relating to finance, transportation, advertising, real estate trade…
Conditional investment sectors are divided into two fields. The first are provided with detailed conditions. For instance, foreign ownership ratio in a sea transport project is restricted to 40% at maximum. For 100% foreign invested projects in insurance business, however, foreign ownership is restricted by quotas. In short, the Government reserves the right to control and protect local investors in these sectors.
The second are provided no detailed conditions for investment, which means that the State will decide whether to open certain fields to foreign ownership basing upon national/provincial plans and strategies for socio-economic development. For foreign invested projects in exploitation and exploration of petroleum and minerals, for example, we have no detailed conditions but basic commitments.
This will create a loophole for investment license issuing bodies to cause troubles for enterprises, won’t it?
We could not reserve the right to protect local investors in certain fields if we had commitments. Thus, except for those that had been mandatory tabled in WTO negotiations, Vietnam provides no detailed conditions for foreign investment into certain fields. This means that it’s possible to make amendments to legal texts.
For the fact that investors might consider this a loophole in administrative procedures, we will have other solutions to fight for corruptions and to reform administrative procedures, rather than leaving a lucrative business and losing our opportunities. We do not reserve interests of state-owned enterprises but of the whole nation.
In such fields as banking and petroleum, we restrict foreign ownership ratio while technology and management play an important role. Could this affect the process of equitization?
In fact, a fair competition exists in several fields. Nevertheless, we must hold control over the banking sector, which includes investment, to ensure financial security. Also, the petroleum sector must be under our control to ensure energy security. The pros and cons need to be carefully weighed.
How do regulations on conditional investment sectors implemented on interdisciplinary enterprises?
It depends. When a field holds majority in market shares of an enterprise, it is considered the major field. In addition, according to the Law on Competition, foreign investors are not allowed to acquire a company that holds 50% of shares in the whole market.
This means that authorities will decide on restriction of foreign ownership ratio basing on the major field that an enterprise is doing business in?
Exactly.
When will the list of banned or restricted investment sectors be announced?
The list is now in the process of translation, and will be officially announced within the next one month. It’s important to have a consensus among ministries and industries.
Source: Thời báo Kinh tế Việt Nam