Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan.

According to Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan, Head of a Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva, the US shows goodwill and also raises many questions that hold Vietnam to the standards of a developed country. 

Bilateral negotiations with the US on WTO membership for Vietnam have yet to be concluded. What do you think about the US’ attitude in this issue? 

I think there is confirmation from American leaders that they highly support Vietnam’s negotiation and accession to the WTO. They always show support as well as goodwill in the negotiation process with Vietnam. 

On the occasion of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai’s to the US in July, President George Bush also reconfirmed this, considering it important and assisting the two sides in solve remaining issues. 

However, public opinion inside and outside Vietnam holds that the US is the most difficult partner in WTO negotiations. I think this is normal and understandable. They probably see Vietnam’s great potential and see it as a competitor. 

That’s why they want to clarify many issues, especially those associated with the comprehensive trade policy, before Vietnam becomes a member. 

What is the biggest problem in negotiation with the US? 

The US is interested in negotiation on goods and services, and they raised a lot of questions. At multilateral negotiation rounds, they are the partner that raises the highest number of questions on Vietnam. It is the same for bilateral rounds. 

In my opinion, a transforming economy like Vietnam has some sensitive aspects. Trade rights are an example. The US pays special attention to this issue, particularly those related to State-owned enterprises. Whenever we meet, we explain that if they raise the demands too high, Vietnam can’t immediately meet them and would need time. 

There are many other complicated issues in bilateral negotiations. But I think the difference between the two sides in level of development, legal systems, and integration into the international market cause difficulties. The US is assisting Vietnam at a high level, but they also raise high demands. 

It’s difficult to open the whole market to all WTO member countries. Vietnam would have to be a highly- developed country to satisfy all US demands. I think negotiators on both sides need to understand each other and the US should have more sympathy toward Vietnam. 

When will the next meeting be? 

The two sides plan to meet in October. At the recent 10^th multilateral negotiation round in Geneva, the chairman of the Working Group on Vietnam’s WTO Accession said that no date was set. He also asked all other countries that have issues with Vietnam to bring them up with negotiators to speed the process of accession. 

Some analysts have said that the remaining partners are waiting for negotiation between the US and Vietnam to end before they conclude. What is your opinion? 

That’s right, and wrong. So far Vietnam has completed negotiations with 21 partners. The remaining partners only have problems with some bilateral issues. Of course, if we finish negotiations with the US, it will be more easy to deal with other issues with the rest if the partners. 

Since submitting its application to join the WTO in January 1995, Vietnam has had 10 official sessions and one plenary session with the Working Group on Vietnam’s Accession to WTO. The country has concluded bilateral negotiations with 21 partners. The six remaining are Australia, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, New Zealand and the US. 

(Source: VNE)

A total of 1,500 entries have been received worldwide for this year's contest on innovative, future-oriented, and effective sustainable construction projects organised by Holcim Foundation.

Holcim Awards is a competition of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, based in Switzerland.

Regional awards will be given to the three best entries from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa-Middle East and the Asia-Pacific.

The entries will be judged on five key areas of sustainable construction: quantum change and transferability; ethical standards and social equity; ecological quality and energy conservation; economic performance and compatibility; and contextual response and aesthetic impact.

There are 255 entries from Asia, of which 14 are from Vietnam.

The entries will be evaluated by independent jurors in close collaboration with the five partner universities of the Holcim Foundation.

Awards ceremonies will be held in Beijing, Boston, Geneva, Johannesburg, and Rio de Janeiro in September and October of this year.

The prize money totals US$220,000 per region. The three top projects from each region will automatically qualify for the global Holcim Awards competition in the second quarter of 2006 in Bangkok, in which prizes totalling $900,000 will be awarded.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

The State Bank of Vietnam has denied rumours that the country's new plastic money will be withdrawn from circulation.

"This rumour about the bank withdrawing polymer notes is false, and aims to create instability in Vietnam's monetary security," the bank's Deputy Governor, Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, said at a press conference in Hanoi last Friday.

"Any individual or organisation, who refuses to circulate the bank notes issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, will be named as a law breaker and will face tough punishments," Ms Phung warned. Rumours had been circulating that the new notes, which were released 12 days ago, would be withdrawn as they did not have a year of issue printed on them.

But Ms Phung said the State Bank has used the first two numbers of the eight digit series on the new notes to indicate the year the money was printed. Many other countries, such as Switzerland, New Zealand, Thailand and Belgium, have stopped printing the circulation years on their currency, she said.

Ms Phung said the bank will put more of the plastic notes into circulation to replace older notes if there is demand. The new money includes the plastic VND500.000 and VND50,000 notes and VND5,000, VND1,000 and VND200coins.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

A three-day conference on pollution problems that face developing countries concludes today in HCM City.

More than 200 scientists from 22 countries are attending the second Asian-Pacific International Conference on Pollutant Analysis and Control.

"The conference gives scientists an opportunity to exchange experiences, information and knowledge on ways to preserve the natural environment and improve the quality of human life," Dr Pham Khoi Nguyen, vice-minister of the Natural Resources and Environment, said.

The conference discussed mega-cities, pollutants such as dioxin and organo-chlorines and their long term environmental damage, recent advances in analytical techniques for the environment and methods of assessing the environmental damage of pollutants on ecological systems.

The conference is part of the eight-year US$2.5mil project "Capacity Building for Institutes of Environment and Resources", funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation through 2004.

Participating scientists are from the United Kingdom, Armenia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia as well as the US, Japan, France, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand.

Conference organisers included the Institute for Environment and Resources of the Vietnam National University-HCM City, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausane, Switzerland and the International Association of Environmental Analytic Chemistry.

Co-sponsors were the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the People's Committee of HCM City, the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation and the International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry.

The first Asian-Pacific International Conference on Pollutant Analysis and Control was held in Singapore in 1995.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

VietNamNet – A team of Vietnamese negotiators, led by Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu, will fly to Geneva, Switzerland, on November 28 to take part in the 7^th round of negotiations for WTO accession.

The 7th round of negotiations is considered significant for Vietnam.

According to Nguyen Van Long, head of the Office of the National Committee for International Economic Cooperation, the round will begin on December 1 and end on December 12. This round will include two sections: bilateral (from December 1-10) and multilateral negotiation (December 11-12).

 

Mr Long said that during this round, Vietnam would submit amended offer documentation to the World Trade Organisation’s working group. Some contents of this document clearly show Vietnam’s determination in the WTO accession process, especially tariff adjustments.

 

The 7^th round of negotiations is considered significant for Vietnam. The country will present its offer with heavily amended content, compared to previous rounds, Mr Long said.

 

Phuong Thanh

The Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee has recently met with overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) from Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, the US, Japan, France, Switzerland and Australia.

In the Jan-Oct. period, Viet Kieu remitted up to US$1.244bil to the city.

At the meeting, many Viet Kieu expressed their wish to purchase houses in Vietnam and invest in the city.

 

There are 994 companies and representative offices of Viet Kieu operating in HCM City with a total investment capital of VND1,925bil. Around 300 Viet Kieu intellectuals are involved in scientific research, teaching, training and technology transfer in the city. In the January-October period, Viet Kieu remitted up to US$1.244bil to the city.

 

(Source: Thanh Nien)

A Vietnamese National Assembly delegation, led by Office Director Bui Ngoc Thanh, joined 121 members of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) attending the 109th IPU General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 1-3.

The Vietnamese MP’s expressed their views on anti-terrorism and support for the Palestinian people's struggle for national independence.

The participants passed four resolutions: the IPU's role in multi-lateral organisations to ensure peace and security and build an international alliance of peace; common global issues; IT contributions to the government's managerial work; the expansion of parliamentary democracy; globalisation and the IPU's assistance in ending the Palestine-Israel conflict.

The General Assembly elected nine delegates to the IPU Executive Committee for the new term and passed three themes to be discussed at the next IPU General Assembly session.

(Source: VNA)

A work displayed at the exhibition.

VietNamNet - "The art of light in photography", an exhibition by 10 photographers from Vietnam, Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia, opened at the Hanoi Art University on September 12.

Each photographer has their own style but all of their works reflect their creativity in the use of light and their passion for photography.

The exhibition is the result of a long effort between Swiss photographer Charles Weber and colleagues he met during his presentations on photography in New Zealand, Australia and Vietnam .

The idea to hold such an exhibition was seeded five years ago with the first Swiss exhibition in September 2002.

The exhibition will be shown in HCM City from October 3-6 at the Culture House for Youth, before embarking on a tour of New Zealand and Australia.

Bich Hanh

VietNamNet – The Switzerland – AIT – Vietnam programme (SAV) will facilitate 50 students through PhD’s in economics by 2007.

 

 

165 Vietnamese students have gone to earn MBA diplomas at the AIT under SAV's assistance.

The SAV started operating in Vietnam in 1993. The programme has assisted in the training of 200 masters of economics so far. 

Some 165 of these students have gone on to earn MBA diplomas at the Asian Institute for Technology (AIT). In the third phase of the programme, 36 of the 165 MAs will continue with a PhD course, raising the total number of doctors of economics funded by SAV to 50 by 2007. The programme will end the same year.

SAV is a US$12mil Swiss-funded programme that incorporates participation of four Vietnamese partners, the Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi Economics University, HCM City University of Technology and HCM Economics University.

SAV organised the 2^nd international scientific conference on management training in Hanoi themed “Resolving future issues” on September 10. At the conference, both domestic and foreign educational managers, researchers, policy makers, social organisations, and businesses discussed solutions to strengthen the skill base of present and future managers.

During the three days of discussion, scientists presented 60 research schemes from universities in 12 countries, for example St. Gallen and Fribourg in Switzerland, London Metropolitan in the UK, Hanyang in the Republic of Korea, Nanyang Business Management Institute in Singapore, AIT in Thailand, Utara in Malaysia and British Columbia in Canada.

The schemes encompass e-commerce, online training and applications, international cooperation and solutions to raise management training quality in the digital age, strategies to overcome the challenges of globalisation and new techniques, and the challenges that small and medium enterprises face. 

Minh Hanh

Vietnam has won praise for its positive efforts to build and reform its economy from members of the World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva. 

The multilateral negotiations - the sixth working party to discuss Vietnam's access to the WTO - was held from May 12-22. 

It included the US, the European Union, China, Ja pan, India, Australia, Switzerland, Malaysia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Uruguay and others. 

They agreed that Vietnam was still a low income developing country with an economy undergoing many changes. 

Some accepted Vietnam's commitment on services as a basis for bilateral negotiations. They also accepted that Vietnam had made progress with its commodities offer.

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Trade Minister and National Committee for International Economic Co-operation Secretary Luong Van Tu.

During the talks, his delegation held a multilateral meeting to discuss agriculture with ten countries which asked that Vietnam make clear the status of its agricultural policies in its domestic support document and its subsidies for farm produce exports. 

The Vietnamese delegation also had bilateral negotiations with the European Union, the US, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Uruguay, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland and New Zealand. 

The participants agreed to hold the seventh working party after the fifth WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

(Source: Viet Nam News)