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(VEN) - In mid December 2011 and on the threshold of the New Year 2012, the World Trade Organization (WTO) officially admitted the Russian Federation, ending an 18 year record of international negotiations. On this occasion, Vietnamese foreign economic circles are increasingly aware of the global integration over the past five years.
It will be five years since Vietnam joined WTO by January 11, 2012. Through the slogan "Combination of the national strength and the power of the epoch", after 5 years of being a WTO member, Vietnam has contributed to promote trade and cooperation relations with the international community, helping to remove itself from the list of least-developed countries and join countries of middle income.
The late "marriage" between WTO and the Russian Federation has also delivered important messages. Despite being ranked as the sixth world largest economy and used to be the commander of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (SEV) of the former socialist countries, the Russian Federation economy still needs a global environment to operate. The Russian Federation by itself is a large market with a population of 150 million people and rich in mineral resources. However, the international economic integration in the trend of globalization is still an inevitable and objective requirement however powerful and strong a country might be. Therefore, the foreign policies of Vietnam so far has been accurate, effective and adaptable with new times.
Statistics revealed that in 2006 when Vietnam was still not a WTO member, the country's export revenue totaled nearly US$40 billion but reached almost US$100 billion in 2011. Joining WTO also brought a number of advantages that includes taxes cut and exemption, reforms of customs procedures, domestic as well as financial markets and the bank sector gradually opened, protectionism of the economy is increasingly reduced, competitiveness among economic constituents is improved, helping to boost the competitiveness of socioeconomic cells and of the whole economy in general.
However, the quality of the implementation of Vietnam's WTO commitments requires profound and comprehensive innovations, otherwise the advantages of Vietnam will be eroded and vanish, pushing the country back to the group of countries of middle-low income. The biggest and most meaningful advantage is not only to boost exports but also develop trade and service, particularly in the areas of patents and technology transfer among countries to innovate growth models. Vietnam has not got the desired results in this area for the past five years due to an immature market economy institution and low qualified human resources.
To improve the quality in WTO integration and achieve new success in the next five years following WTO Schedules of Commitments, there are no more feasible solutions than to successfully implement three breakthrough strategies and three economic restructuring issues according to resolutions adopted by the 13th National Assembly and by the 11th Party Congress. In addition, in 2012, Vietnam needs to continue to drastically curb inflation and stabilize macro-economy and fulfill the task of reducing the annual growth in the consumer price index (CPI) from 18 percent in 2011 to 9-10 percent in 2012 as galloping inflation is eroding and annulling Vietnamese comparative advantages in WTO integration
The past five-year period should be considered as toddling steps of Vietnam in WTO and despite global economic slowdown, Vietnamese economy and businesses are still making advances forward. In the next five years, with the gathered experiences, Vietnam is expected to enter a promising period based on would-be strategic cooperative agreements with world partners, particularly with the EU, Japan, the Russian Federation and the US./.
By Ho Hai Long, the Editor-in-chief
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