IDEAS Centre Geneva

Trade Policy Advice

Vietnam

High Level Policy Advice relating to
Vietnam’s World Trade Organization Accession Negotiations

Duration		Mid-2004 till end of 2005

Beneficiary		Vietnam’s WTO accession negotiating team

Project Partner		Ministry of Trade (MOT), Multilateral Trade Policy Dept.

Implementing Agency		IDEAS Centre (International Trade, Development, Economic Governance Advisory Services), Geneva

1. Background

	The Vietnamese Government applied for World Trade Organization (WTO) membership in 1994, and a Working Party, was established in January 1995.

	On May 2, 1997, the Swiss Confederation and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam signed a cooperation agreement concerning the provision of trade policy advice with a view to facilitating Vietnam ’s accession to WTO. Mr. Arthur Dunkel, former GATT Director-General and President of IDEAS Centre, was personally involved in advising the Vietnamese Government on its accession process.

	Vietnam has achieved substantial progress in its accession negotiations and, with the focus now being set on the finalizing its draft working party (WP) report, it has entered a new phase in its accession negotiation.

2. Overall Goal and Content

	The new project shall mainly focus on the current negotiations, helping the Vietnamese negotiating team to address priority issues and requests from WP member states in a way that supports Vietnam ’s trade and development interests.

	On the one hand, IDEAS’ work aims at facilitating the broad understanding of still outstanding issues, be they at the level of the WP or of bilateral market access negotiations, and identifying negotiation options. On the other hand, IDEAS' work aims at strengthening the Vietnamese argumentation in defense of its core trade and development interests. Generally speaking, IDEAS Centre shares the belief that WTO accession will further enhance Vietnam ’s remarkable trade achievements, strengthening the country’s capacity to defend its trade interests worldwide and complementing bilateral and regional trade agreements.

3. Objectives

The project has four major objectives:

		To provide support for the negotiations and strengthen the capacities of Vietnamese trade negotiators, helping them to argue in favor of and defend their interests in the course of WTO accession negotiations.

		To undertake comparative reviews of recent accession cases and draw lessons for Vietnam ’s accession negotiations.

		To support the Vietnamese Government in addressing links and potential conflicts of interest between required WTO-related reforms and Vietnam ’s development strategy.

		To assist Vietnamese authorities in convincingly presenting their case and establishing alliances with supporters from within donor countries and beyond.

4. Activities

IDEAS Centre delivers trade policy advice relating to strategic negotiation issues. It works on the basis of analysis and research relating to negotiating options. Results from IDEAS’ work are shared with the Vietnamese government in the form of a continuing policy dialogue. There is flexibility within the project to adapt to evolutions within the negotiations and specific demands from Vietnam .

Contacts


Ministry of Trade / MTPD - Vietnam Mr. Tran Quoc Khanh, Director General Multilateral Trade Policy Department Ministry of Trade - Hanoi/Vietnam			State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) Effingerstrasse 1, 3003 Berne - Switzerland Tel. +41 31 324 08 13/17 Fax +41-31 322 86 30



IDEAS Centre, Geneva Mr. Nicolas Imboden Project Director Mrs. Lilja Òlafsdottir Project Coordinator 10, rue de l’Arquebuse 1204 Geneva - Switzerland P. +41 22 807 17 40 F. +41 22 807 17 41 Email: lilja.olafsdottir@ideascentre.ch			Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam Economic and Commercial Division 44B Ly Thuong Kiet Street - Hanoi/Vietnam P. +84 4 934 65 89 F. +84 4 934 65 91