Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international organizations in Geneva, shared this with TG&VN about the visit of WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal to Vietnam from May 17-19.
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| Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at WTO headquarters in Geneva. |
Could you share the focus of the visit of WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal to Vietnam from May 17-19?
At the invitation of Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien on behalf of the Government of Vietnam, WTO Director General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala paid an official visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, from the afternoon of May 17 and left Vietnam early in the morning of May 19.
During his short visit to Vietnam, General Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had a busy schedule including meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, working with Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, and Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hung.
In addition, there were meetings and dialogues with Vietnamese female entrepreneurs in the Pioneering Women Leaders Network (WeLead) and SheTrades Hub, meetings and dialogues with students and lecturers of Hanoi Foreign Trade University, and meetings with a number of female business leaders of the Vietnam Association of Women Entrepreneurs (VAWE).
During this visit, through meetings and exchanges with senior leaders of the Government, ministries, sectors, businesses and scholars, the Director General hopes to promote better understanding and increase support for the WTO, the center of the multilateral trading system.
In parallel, Director General Okonjo-Iweala is interested in learning about the reshaping of global and regional supply chains on the important link of Vietnam; the strategy for sustainable economic and trade development and contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); especially women's economic empowerment, enhancing the position of women in international trade, and how female entrepreneurs and business leaders can respond to current challenges at the national, regional and international levels, including trade logistics and digital transformation.
The visit is also an effort by Ms. Okonjo-Iweala to directly contact WTO member countries, to learn about the actual situation at the national and regional levels related to the issues being promoted by the organization. For example, promoting the ratification of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies reached at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12, in Geneva in June 2022), preparing for the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC13), scheduled to take place in February 2024 in Abu Dabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Among them, there are issues of high concern to countries such as negotiations on fisheries subsidies, agricultural trade, food security, e-commerce and digital economy, the contribution of trade to sustainable development, practical aspects of the WTO that can be reformed to better meet the needs of developing members and least developed members, etc.
What is the significance of the visit of WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweal to Vietnam, Ambassador?
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's visit to Vietnam follows that of his predecessor (Mr. Roberto Azevêdo) who visited Vietnam in 2016. This is the second visit by the head of the WTO - the global multilateral trade organization. This shows the high interest of the WTO, as well as of Director-General Okonjo-Iweala, in the development of Vietnam since it joined the organization in January 2007.
Director General Okonjo-Iweala once said that Vietnam's continuous growth and development over more than a decade and a half since becoming a member of the WTO, especially during a period of many fluctuations in the world, is a miracle. Vietnam has always been an example for developing countries.
In fact, in the context of the world economy and trade continuing to develop complicatedly, countries are facing many urgent global challenges, the Vietnamese economy still shows dynamism and positive changes, along with the drastic implementation of the national strategy on socio-economic development of the Party and State, Government, enterprises, and social organizations.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala's visit is an opportunity for Vietnamese Government leaders, ministries, businesses and scholars to directly hear the Director General's opinions on the role of the WTO and its work in the coming time.
At the same time, he shared with the Director General about Vietnam's policy of promoting the multilateral trading system; vision, strategy, specific measures and efforts, as well as Vietnam's proposals to the WTO to promote the multilateral trading system, reform the organization, promote trade, implement digital transformation, green transformation, adapt to climate change, and sustainable development.
In reality, it can be clearly seen that trade and investment (also known as trade in goods and trade in services) are important tools to help Vietnam effectively implement its socio-economic development strategy, especially as a tool to create breakthroughs in implementing the national strategy for science and technology development, technology transfer, as well as implementing national strategies on digital transformation, green transformation, equitable energy transformation, climate change adaptation, bringing the economy to develop in a sustainable direction, achieving the goals of industrialization, modernization, and improving people's living standards.
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| Diplomat Bui Thanh Son worked with WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the morning of May 18. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
Vietnam has spent 16 years as a member of the WTO, the world's largest trade organization. Vietnam's accession to the WTO in January 2007 was an important milestone on the journey of innovation and international integration, and has contributed significantly to promoting the country's socio-economic development. In the context of many difficulties in the world economy, according to the Ambassador, what should Vietnam do to continue to affirm its position?
Indeed, Director General Okonjo-Iweala and many WTO members have highly appreciated Vietnam's rapid development achievements, saying that Vietnam's success inspires and provides experience for many countries around the world, especially in the field of foreign economic relations serving national development.
Vietnam always appreciates the role, cooperation and support of the WTO, and respects the principles and regulations of the multilateral trading system, which is the foundation for Vietnam to build and sign bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, including new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs).
Vietnam has become one of the 20 economies with the largest international trade in the world and implemented about 100 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, more than 60 investment promotion and protection agreements. This is a great achievement of the innovation process over the past 35 years, joining the WTO in early 2007 and implementing commitments in the WTO.
As of 2022, Vietnam's export turnover has increased nearly 8 times compared to the time when Vietnam officially joined the WTO in early 2007 (371 billion USD in 2022 compared to 48 billion USD in 2007); realized FDI capital reached about 22.4 billion USD; GDP growth rate remained high in the world, even during the pandemic. Vietnam is the country with the fastest growth rate in brand value in the world in the period 2020-2022, currently reaching 431 billion USD.
Currently, like other countries, Vietnam is facing unprecedented challenges due to the "multi-crisis" situation such as war and hot spots in some countries, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, food and energy insecurity, economic and financial crisis along with increasing public debt in developing countries, climate change, causing an increasingly large impact on the production, supply and consumption chains, and trade globally.
| Vietnam has become one of the top 20 economies with the largest international trade in the world and implemented about 100 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, more than 60 investment promotion and protection agreements. |
Some large trading countries with strong economic potential have been increasing unilateral trade-related measures, negatively affecting many countries. In addition, the trend of regional and bilateral trade agreements continues to increase.
However, it is important that WTO members always emphasize the need to maintain the WTO multilateral trading system based on rules that ensure the principles of openness, transparency and fairness, emphasizing the importance of the WTO fully performing its basic functions including trade negotiations, implementation and monitoring of multilateral trade agreements, dispute settlement, development assistance and trade capacity building.
To maintain and enhance the role of the WTO to protect the national interests, businesses and people of Vietnam, Vietnam needs to continue to promote its role as a responsible member of the organization, continue to be proactive and active in the cooperation frameworks of the WTO, strive to fully implement its commitments, and at the same time make positive and constructive contributions to issues of common concern at the WTO.
Vietnam's consistent policy is to continue supporting an open, transparent, fair and rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO playing a central role to promote trade and investment, while contributing to effectively responding to challenges facing countries, such as connecting supply chains, eliminating tariff barriers, fighting trade protectionism; promoting trade exchanges in the context of global trade showing signs of decline. This is an important content in implementing Vietnam's 10-year Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021-2030.
Vietnam's strategy has set out the policy of continuing innovation, including: rapid and sustainable development based mainly on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation; taking reform, improving the quality of a complete, synchronous, modern, integrated socialist-oriented market economic institution and effective and efficient law enforcement as prerequisites to promote national development; building a self-reliant economy on the basis of mastering technology and proactively and actively integrating and diversifying markets, improving the adaptability of the economy. In particular, applying comprehensive international economic integration as an important driving force to promote economic growth as well as creating a combined strength to enhance Vietnam's competitiveness and position.
I believe that, with the full and synchronous implementation of the Strategy's directions both internally and externally, the active participation of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission in Geneva in WTO activities, and especially with the active participation of representatives of ministries, businesses, and scholars in building and effectively implementing trade policies, Vietnam's position in the international trade arena will be increasingly enhanced in the coming time.
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