Under a recent bilateral deal on Vietnam's accession to the WTO reached by the country and the United States, import tariffs on many U.S. goods will stand at 15 percent downward, local newspaper Young People reported Tuesday.

Besides, Vietnam is to open up important services, and remove all import restrictions currently imposed on foreign-invested enterprises in the country. Vietnam has pledged to open up telecommunications (including satellite services), distribution, financial services, and energy services, and allow the establishment of branches of foreign non-life insurance companies.

Regarding trading rights, in addition to abolishing all the import restrictions, Vietnam is to minimize the role of state- owned enterprises in trading activities, including the role of the state as a sole agency eligible for importing some certain goods. U.S. firms will have the rights to supply goods and services to Vietnamese state-owned enterprises, the newspaper said.

Some three-fourths of U.S. farm products will be subject to Vietnam's import tariffs of 15 percent downward. They include fiber cotton, selected beef, grape, apple, peach, pear, soy-bean, pork and other kinds of meat. Vietnam has agreed to recognize U.S. quality verifications for beef, pork and fowl products, which are similar to those of Vietnam.

Also under the deal, 94 percent of U.S. manufactured goods will bear import tax rates of no more than 15 percent. Specifically, construction equipment, aviation items and medicines are subject to the rates of 0-5 percent.

Vietnam will immediately implement tariff reduction in medical equipment after it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO), said the newspaper.

Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen told reporters on Monday that the 13 round of multilateral negotiations about Vietnam's accession to the WTO will be held in July. He said he hoped it would be the last multilateral talks so that Vietnam could enter the global trade club by late 2006.

Vietnam on May 12 concluded bilateral negotiations about the accession with the United States, the last out of 28 partners which required bilateral talks. The two sides are widely expected to officially ink the trade deal during the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade slated for June 1-2 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: Xinhua