Deputy Prime Minister urges US to remove remaining trade barriers

Deputy Prime Minister urges US to remove remaining trade barriers

VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has recommended the US recognise Viet Nam's market economy and grant the country access to its Generalised System of Preference during his official visit to the US last week.

Vietnam, US increase trade ties

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh meets with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk during his ongoing visit to the US since February 7. (Photo: VNS)

The Deputy PM headed a Governmental delegation and met with senior US senators, US Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, World Bank (WB) President Robert Zoellick and Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Naoyuki Shinohara.

He stressed the need for the US to remove trade barriers imposed on key Vietnamese exports such as "tra" and "basa" fish, shrimp, honey and wind turbine towers The Vietnamese delegation also sugg ested the US continue helping Viet Nam deal with remaining war issues, especially projects to clean-up the environment and support Agent Orange victims.

The Vietnamese Deputy PM underlined Viet Nam's active international integration policies and said that the country would continue to negotiate positively with the US and other partners on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. He also asked the US to ensure Viet Nam's interests during TPP negotiations.

The US side said it would continue stepping up cooperation in trade, investment, science-technology, education and training, as well as working closely with Viet Nam at multilateral, regional forums, including ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

They also expressed hope that both parties will soon solve the outstanding difficulties with certain trade links and join in efforts to complete negotiations for the TPP.

The WB and IMF officials stated that Viet Nam was one of their leading partners and said that they were pleased with the relationship between the US and Viet Nam.

They acknowledged that the WB and IMF have supported the Vietnamese Government's measures to control inflation and stabilise the macro-economy while restructuring the overall economy, agreeing that Viet Nam needed to continue with those measures in 2012.

The WB leader asked the Vietnamese government to speed up the disbursement of capital to projects with support from the WB under the WB-funded Financial Sector Assessment Programme.

While in Washington, Deputy PM Ninh also attended talks on Viet Nam-US economic relations with the heads of several major US groups who acknowledged Viet Nam's efforts to stabilise its macro-economy and said they were optimistic about the prospect of increased investment and trade with Viet Nam.

The Deputy PM discussed Viet Nam's key development policies for the near future and pledged to continue to create the best possible environment for foreign investors, including those from the US.

Ninh's visit is expected to last until February 18.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News