Hanoi (VNA) - Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has joined meetings held as part of the World Trade Organisation’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi.
At the MC13, Dien spoke highly of the WTO’s role in guiding and promoting trade liberalisation effectively.
For the WTO and the MC13 to play a stronger role in propelling sustainable growth and creating more practical opportunities for businesses and citizens, he proposed that WTO members focus on discussions and negotiations that have shown progress to narrow gaps and move toward consensus among them, with the reform of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism playing a crucial role.
He also stressed the importance of finding development-appropriate solutions and addressi🍎ng differences regardin🐈g special and differential treatment to ensure a balance of rights and obligations for all members, tailored to the development level of each country.
During the Cairns Group Ministerial Meeting, Dien affirmed Vietnam’s support for new initiatives and efforts to step up agriculture negotiations, with appropriate levels of development and enforcement capacity of economies being taken into account.
Vietnam will continue working closely with other members of the Cairns Group to achieve specific outcomes, contributing to promoting agricultural trade liberalisation on the basis of equal, fair and transparent competition, he said.
On the MC13 sidelines, he held a working session with the WTO Director-General to reaffirm Vietnam's commitment to supporting the multilateral trading system. He also met separately with officials of several WTO members such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Israel, Singapore, the US, China, Nepal, Romania, Canada, and Malaysia to discuss bilateral and regional issues of shared interest.
The Vietnamese and Chinese sides affirmed their excellent economic and trade relations demonstrated by the maintenance of open borders, which facilitate b🎐ilateral trade and investment, especially in agricultural and aquatic products. As a result, two-way trade has improved amid th𒀰e global trade downturn.
With other countries, the minister agreed on closer cooperation mechanisms, especially through existing joint commission mechanisms, with a focus on energy, industry, and agricultural trade.
During a reception for President and CEO of the US’s Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) John Neuffer, he🔴 expressed the wish to work more closely with the associations and firms to share information and experience in this field.