The new tax level will be put into practice in five years after the country officially becomes a WTO member, said Ms Bich.

During the country's negotiation process to join the WTO, Vietnam proposed new import tariffs for 10,600 kinds of commodities, including garments and textiles, fish and fish products, machinery, electronics and electric appliances, said Ms Bich who is also a member of the Vietnamese negotiation delegation.

Vietnam's tax reduction commitment is under strict scrutiny by WTO members, who will be joining negotiations with Vietnam in this field through September 15. Then, the commitment will be made public.

Other trade liberalisation agreements like the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT), the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Free Trade Agreements between ASEAN, China and the Republic of Korea, have reduced Vietnam's import tax and have prompted the country to move ahead to exempt some import tariffs for these partners by 2015.

Under the CEPT/AFTA, Vietnam is one of seven ASEAN member countries to reduce import duties to zero percent for more than half of targeted commodities. The Ministry of Finance recently decided to slash import tariffs on 117 items, including aviation materials, electronics and freezing electric appliances.

According to Ms Bich, accession to the WTO and FTA requires the opening of local markets with commitments to reducing import duties and abiding by international commercial regulations on making non-discriminate and transparent policies. Apart from import tax reductions, Vietnam will also have to remove production subsidies in its roadmap to join the WTO.