But Mike Moore, the WTO director general who was visiting Vietnam late last week, said, "I would be enormously disappointed, I'd be very disappointed, if we don't see Vietnam at the [WTO] ministerial conference in two years' time."
Moore said the most important agreement he reached in Hanoi was to boost negotiations. "The purpose [of the trip] was to meet with ministers and the Prime Minister to talk about how we can speed up Vietnam's entry into the WTO," said Moore. When Vietnam joins the WTO, he said, depends on its answers to the questions posed by WTO members. Based on China and Brazil's cases, working out a definite time-frame for Vietnam is a tough job, said Moore.
"The WTO doesn't negotiate with countries on acceptance," he said. "It's not me, it's not an executive decision I can make, it's the 144 members. So, we are in the middle of the process now." In general, claimed Moore, Vietnam's admission speed depended on how fast Vietnam should move as defined by the Government and on the number of questions posed to Vietnam. "This of course is in the hands of Vietnam," he continued. "If Vietnam wants this, and it does, let's see what we can do to accelerate the procedures. What Vietnam wants, it should work for."
The WTO chief said, however, that it remained an extremely difficult task for Vietnam to be admitted, as far as the procedures are concerned. "You must understand how difficult this can be in terms of legislation... These are not easy things to do," Moore told reporters in a news conference in Hanoi.
For an early admission to the WTO, according to Moore, Vietnam should answer the questions from WTO members. "The biggest hindrance is the market access issues as posed by WTO members and how Vietnam will respond to the questions," he said. "Vietnam will be fast-tracked for the WTO if this first market access offer is going in the right direction." Moore added that these documents, as informed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, had been almost completed and would be sent to the WTO by the year-end at the latest.
In addition, WTO officials would together with Vietnam identify the country's weak points whereby the WTO and other organizations such as the World Bank would enhance Vietnam's capacities. Moore said the WTO would organize courses, workshops and other activities to help Vietnam.
The WTO chief said during his meetings with Vietnamese government officials, the hosts had shown a determination to join the WTO and cited the historic trade agreement with the United States passed by Vietnamese lawmakers as "a good stepping stone."
"The U.S. trade deal is a step forward for Vietnam in its accession to the WTO," said Moore. "Vietnamese Government officials are more confident and experienced in negotiations and I believe the preparations for the documents are good."
Moore said Vietnam had sent to the international community signals of economic openness and policy clarity. He warned, however, that the negotiation process depended on many industries such as construction, policy implementation, budget, cross-border trade management, and the like. The WTO was not a club that organized workshops to which people came, spoke and then went home, asserted Moore. There must be commitments to carry out, he concluded.
In a talk with the WTO general director, Prime Minister Khai said Vietnam needed more help from the WTO to step up its membership acceptance. Khai said he expected Moore's continued support during the upcoming fifth round of negotiations for WTO-Vietnam.
PM Khai said Vietnam was one of the 28 poor nations applying for WTO membership. Therefore, it needs aid from the global trade watchdog, especially in simplifying procedures.
Vietnam submitted its application for WTO membership almost six years ago in early 1995. Ever since, four rounds of talks have been conducted, mainly on policy transparency and some 1,500 questions by WTO members on Vietnam's trade policies.
The first goods and services offer has been forwarded by the Trade Minister to the Prime Minister for consideration to prepare for the fifth round (also the first round of talk on goods and services) slated for early 2002.