A ministerial meeting of the Vietnam-US Trade and Investment FrameworkAgreement (TIFA) Council closed in Washington on May 23 with anagreement on access to each other’s market for severalmutually-supplementary agricultural products.
Answering a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in the US, Minister ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT) Vu Huy Hoang, Vietnamese President of the TIFACouncil, said this is an important initiative as the two sides’agricultural products are not in competition with each other.
TheUS side will allow the import of litchi, longan, mango and star applefrom Vietnam in addition to the already licensed dragon fruit andrambutant while the Vietnamese side will import pear, apple, grape andcherry fruit from the US.
Hoang said at his meeting with USMinister, Trade Representative Ron Kirk, that the two sides drew outexperience and assessed arising problems during the past cooperationprocess as well as discussed measures and orientations of cooperation inthe future.
Prior to the ministerial meeting, between May 19-20,the TIFA Secretariat held five preparatory sessions on market access,intellectual property, telecommunications, government purchase andagriculture, and a plenum to review the results of bilateral cooperationand discuss future cooperation orientations.
The two sidesagreed on positive results in bilateral cooperation in trade,investment, intellectual property, information technology, services andagriculture and commercial dispute.
Two-way trade between Vietnamand the US attained 18 billion USD in 2010, 13 times higher than thatof 2001 when the Bilateral Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed. The US hasbecome the largest and most important market of Vietnam’s key exportitems.
The US’s pledged investment reached 16 billion USD, ranking sixth among 92 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
In addition, the US is now home to around 13,000 Vietnamese students and postgraduates.
Thetwo sides affirmed that the Vietnam-US TIFA Council is an effectivebilateral cooperation channel while emphasising the need to furtherstrengthen TIFA Secretariat-level cooperation, including the mechanismof “early warning” of newly emerging difficulties.
The two sidesset the target of reaching 20-25 percent in annual two-way trade growthand creating a suitable bilateral trade balance.
Through the TIFAcooperation framework, the two sides are negotiating on the BilateralInvestment Agreement (BIA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPP), which are expected to be important agreements to raise theVietnam-US cooperation to a new height.
Existing differences between the two sides were also put on table during the meeting.
MinisterHoang stressed the positive point of the meeting that the two sidesdiscussed measures to address quarantine, food safety and hygiene inorder to open up a new trade channel for fruit.
The two sidesagreed to solve existing commercial disputes in order to create a fairtrade environment, he said, adding that Vietnam has suggested the USbuild a fair trade competition environment in line with WTO regulations.
TheUS side proposed that Vietnamese authorised agencies should strengthenintellectual property protection for music and cinema works andsoftware.
The two sides also touched upon several issues relatingto TPP negotiations such as government purchase, access to industrial,agricultural and telecom markets, intelectual property protection,labour and trade union.
The Vietnamese side asked the US andother partners to support and work out suitable agreements for Vietnamduring the TPP negotiation process as the country is still facing manydifficulties as a developing nation./.
Answering a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in the US, Minister ofIndustry and Trade (MoIT) Vu Huy Hoang, Vietnamese President of the TIFACouncil, said this is an important initiative as the two sides’agricultural products are not in competition with each other.
TheUS side will allow the import of litchi, longan, mango and star applefrom Vietnam in addition to the already licensed dragon fruit andrambutant while the Vietnamese side will import pear, apple, grape andcherry fruit from the US.
Hoang said at his meeting with USMinister, Trade Representative Ron Kirk, that the two sides drew outexperience and assessed arising problems during the past cooperationprocess as well as discussed measures and orientations of cooperation inthe future.
Prior to the ministerial meeting, between May 19-20,the TIFA Secretariat held five preparatory sessions on market access,intellectual property, telecommunications, government purchase andagriculture, and a plenum to review the results of bilateral cooperationand discuss future cooperation orientations.
The two sidesagreed on positive results in bilateral cooperation in trade,investment, intellectual property, information technology, services andagriculture and commercial dispute.
Two-way trade between Vietnamand the US attained 18 billion USD in 2010, 13 times higher than thatof 2001 when the Bilateral Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed. The US hasbecome the largest and most important market of Vietnam’s key exportitems.
The US’s pledged investment reached 16 billion USD, ranking sixth among 92 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
In addition, the US is now home to around 13,000 Vietnamese students and postgraduates.
Thetwo sides affirmed that the Vietnam-US TIFA Council is an effectivebilateral cooperation channel while emphasising the need to furtherstrengthen TIFA Secretariat-level cooperation, including the mechanismof “early warning” of newly emerging difficulties.
The two sidesset the target of reaching 20-25 percent in annual two-way trade growthand creating a suitable bilateral trade balance.
Through the TIFAcooperation framework, the two sides are negotiating on the BilateralInvestment Agreement (BIA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPP), which are expected to be important agreements to raise theVietnam-US cooperation to a new height.
Existing differences between the two sides were also put on table during the meeting.
MinisterHoang stressed the positive point of the meeting that the two sidesdiscussed measures to address quarantine, food safety and hygiene inorder to open up a new trade channel for fruit.
The two sidesagreed to solve existing commercial disputes in order to create a fairtrade environment, he said, adding that Vietnam has suggested the USbuild a fair trade competition environment in line with WTO regulations.
TheUS side proposed that Vietnamese authorised agencies should strengthenintellectual property protection for music and cinema works andsoftware.
The two sides also touched upon several issues relatingto TPP negotiations such as government purchase, access to industrial,agricultural and telecom markets, intelectual property protection,labour and trade union.
The Vietnamese side asked the US andother partners to support and work out suitable agreements for Vietnamduring the TPP negotiation process as the country is still facing manydifficulties as a developing nation./.
