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WTO lauds India, Vietnam for trade growth
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has lauded India and Vietnam for their trade performance in a preliminary assessment of global trade last year and prospects for this year.
The report, released in Geneva Thursday, stated that "since 1995, the exports and imports of these two countries have expanded faster than Asia's trade and their share in world merchandise exports increased markedly."
They reported growth of 20 to 35 percent in 2006, it said.
Vietnam’s merchandise imports, which amounted to US$44 billion in 2006 and accounted for a 0.5 percent global share, have put the country in the 30 leading importers in this category.
The dollar value of world merchandise exports increased by 15 per cent to $11.76 trillion in 2006 and commercial services exports were up by an estimated 11 per cent to $2.71 trillion. Since 2003, commercial services exports expanded less rapidly each year than merchandise trade.
In volume terms, the 8 per cent expansion in merchandise trade in 2006 was the second highest since 2000.
With global economic growth forecast at around 3 per cent this year, merchandise trade growth could slow to about 6 per cent.
Developing countries' share of world merchandise exports reached an all-time high of 36 per cent last year and the 0.9 per cent share for least-developed countries was also a record, the highest level since 1980.
“The strong performance of 2006 is welcome, particularly the gains made by developing and least-developed countries,” WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said, adding “this has to be consolidated” through a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.
Source: WTO