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Taiwan backs Vietnam's WTO bid

Taiwan supports Vietnam's bid to join the WTO and says bilateral market access talks between the two countries will conclude soon, the nation's representative office at WTO headquarters announced yesterday.

Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), Taiwan's representative to the WTO, said Vietnam's accession to the WTO will energize bilateral business and trade ties.

Yen said that by supporting Vietnam's WTO membership, Taiwan -- Vietnam's second-largest source of foreign capital and a major trading partner -- will reap more than economic and trade benefits.

Taiwan's WTO representative said the agreement will bolster substantive bilateral relations between the two countries.

strategy

Addressing the eighth WTO working group meeting to focus exclusively on Vietnam, Yen said that nation has adjusted its economic structure and strategy since the late 1980s, increasing its attractiveness to foreign investors and capital.

Since Vietnam began its bid to secure WTO membership in 1995, Yen said, the country's market-opening efforts have accelerated vastly, with increasing Taiwanese investment in recent years testifying to the success of these efforts.

Taiwanese investment in Vietnam has grown fivefold from about US$2 billion in 1995 to the current level of US$10 billion.

Yen said he believes that more multinational corporations will make Vietnam their regional operational and manufacturing center, attracted by a trade partner whose policies comply with the WTO's free-trade spirit.

Yen said Vietnam's responses to Taipei's requests in previous bilateral talks have been useful and constructive, adding that the two sides' differences over product and service trade have narrowed.

market access

Taiwan's trade authorities are studying offers made by Vietnam in April on market access, and the assessment is expected to be completed soon.

This will pave the way for the two countries to complete their talks on Vietnam's WTO bid, Yen said.
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