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Foreign investors back Vietnam's
WTO bid
HANOI - Pledging
strong support to Vietnam's early entry into the
World Trade Organization (WTO), representatives of
foreign-invested enterprises asked the government
to remove administrative hurdles and improve the
country's infrastructure during a meeting with
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan on Thursday.
In response, Khoan vowed to fix policy
flaws, especially cumbersome administrative
procedures. The deputy prime minister said the
Vietnamese government would do its best to boost
the country's business environment by making it
more competitive.
"The government will
soon devolve the responsibility of granting
licenses to foreign-invested projects to provinces
and cities. It will make necessary institutional
adjustments and improvements that are compatible
with WTO recommendations," he said.
"The
government will submit a number of laws, including
the unified enterprise law, the law on
intellectual property and the anti-corruption law
that ensures transparency and creates equal
opportunity for all economic sectors, to the
National Assembly for approval," he added.
At the meeting, representatives of
foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam voiced
their strong support for the nation's early entry
into the WTO, while urging the government to
improve infrastructure and business policies.
Alain Cany, chairman of the European
Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam,
expressed hope of the country becoming a WTO
member by the end of this year.
"The WTO
membership would be the strongest signal that the
government can send to foreign investors. This
would provide a major thrust to the country's
economic development," he said.
Vice-chairman of the American Chamber of
Commerce (AmCham) Walter Blocker added that the
American business community in Vietnam was looking
forward to the country's WTO accession at the
earliest possible date.
Negotiations for
Vietnam's WTO membership are moving at a frenetic
pace, with the country finalizing a bilateral
agreement on the issue with the European Union -
one of its important partners - last October.
However, Vietnam is yet to complete negotiations
with other key partners, including the United
States, Japan and China.
To improve the
business environment, as well as facilitate the
country's entry into the WTO, foreign investors
have pushed the government for greater reforms in
taxes, customs, capital markets, the legal system,
and administration.
EuroCham's Cany said
the unified enterprise law, considered to be a
breakthrough in improving the business
environment, would put an end to discriminatory
policies and enable free movement of people, goods
and capital.
Lack of adequate
infrastructure is a major impediment for foreign
investors, and the government should encourage
more joint ventures between the state and the
private sector in building infrastructure, he
said.
AmCham's Blocker wanted the
country's trade and investment regime to comply
with WTO standards, particularly in areas like
market access, distribution and trading, financial
services, telecommunications, intellectual
property rights and transparency of laws.
"Many of the difficulties faced in
attracting FDI [foreign-direct investment] can be
reduced if the government consults industry
associations to develop appropriate, transparent,
efficient and fair systems for regulating
businesses, including the issuance of licenses,
quotas, customs procedures and tax payments so as
to prevent bribery, corruption and other negative
phenomenon," he said.
According to
government statistics, Vietnam has so far
attracted about 5,000 foreign-invested projects
with a registered capital of more than US$46
billion, with FDI accounting for 15% of the
country's gross domestic product (GDP).
Foreign investments stood at $1.7 billion
in the first three months of this year,
registering a whopping 2.4-fold increase over the
same period last year.
(Asia Pulse/VNA) |
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