Vietnam determined to pursue multilateral trade mechanism
The head of the Vietnamese delegation at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s ninth ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, has affirmed Vietnam’s political will and determination to pursue and support the multilateral trade mechanism within the WTO framework.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu, together with 1,000 other officials from 159 WTO member countries, attended the last day of the three-day meeting on December 5, during which they exchanged views on three agreements of the Bali Package on agriculture, trade facilitation and the slowest developing countries.
Tu stressed that as a developing country, Vietnam wants the Doha Round on global trade liberalisation, which was launched by the organisation in 2001 but hasn’t come to an end, to soon be completed.
As a responsible and constructive WTO member, Vietnam will continue exerting efforts to create a consensus on the multilateral trade mechanism, he added.
Noting existing disagreements on several contents of the Bali Package, particularly in farming–related issues like agricultural trade and food security, Tu called on a greater flexibility and compromise of all WTO members and parties. He stressed that only goodwill and a new joint consensus can recover the motivation, break the Doha Round deadlock and protect the reputation of the global trade system.
He once again affirmed Vietnam’s support of WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo as well as his initiatives to foster negotiations on trade liberalisation and consolidate the WTO’s role.
He also congratulated Yemen on becoming the 160th WTO member.