US embassy cable - 04HANOI982

UNCLAS HANOI 000982 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR EBRYAN 
STATE ALSO FOR E, EB AND EAP/BCLTV 
USDOC FOR 6500 AND 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIKH 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAGR, ECON, VM, WTO 
SUBJECT: Yerxa Says To Push Vietnam on WTO Offer 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Visiting WTO DG Rufus Yerxa described his 
discussions with GVN officials on WTO accession at an April 
7 luncheon attended by Ambassador.  Also present were the 
Ambassadors of Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, New 
Zealand, and the EC, the Representative from Taiwan and reps 
from the World Bank and UNDP. 
 
2. (SBU) Yerxa said that he had met with Deputy Prime 
Minister Vu Khoan, Minister of Trade Tuyen, MOFA Vice 
Minister Le Van Bang, and WTO Lead Negotiator MOT Vice 
Minister Tu as well as some National Assembly reps and 
summarized his message as follows.  He had sought to 
underscore the benefits of accession by citing examples of 
the positive results such as that of Mexico.  He stressed to 
the GVN that it would be hard to get exemptions and 
transitions on rules, that discussion of Vietnam's low level 
of development was not productive, and that Vietnam needed 
to provide good and credible offers on goods as well as 
services to advance the process.  He said that Vietnam's 
accession was not being blocked by any WTO member, but 
with 25 other Working Parties considering accessions Vietnam 
needed to make progress to maintain interest. 
 
3. (SBU) In terms of timing, the GVN told Yerxa that they 
had nearly completed a new offer that they intended to 
submit next week.  Some hard issues were still under 
discussion and review by the Ministers and Prime Minister. 
Once the GVN has submitted its offer he would expect another 
working party meeting could take place in about six weeks. 
 
4. (SBU) In the subsequent discussion, the following key 
points emerged.  Vietnam is still negotiating bilaterally 
and sees this as a zero sum game.  Once the negotiations 
have concluded, we all need to declare Vietnam the winner. 
DPM Vu Khoan gets it, but does not have adequate power to 
push through these policy changes and adjustments.  He must 
still seek consensus.  GVN will lose some of its revenues 
from tariff reductions. GVN's view that MFN is "subject to 
interpretation" is a continuing problem for the Swiss, EC, 
U.S. and Australia.  GVN still needs to build capacity to 
undertake all of these changes.  GVN needs to trust the 
market more and let go of its system. 
 
5. (SBU) Yerxa suggested that the Ambassadors seek a meeting 
with an appropriate GVN official soon to underscore the 
critical nature of the next meeting.  If the offers and 
meeting are credible, they will make progress.  If not, they 
risk losing their momentum and credibility as well as the 
interest of the WTO experts and reps in Geneva.  We believe 
that this would be a worthwhile discussion between the 
Ambassador and DPM Vu Khoan.  We request Washington guidance 
(including specific topics to raise) on how to proceed. 
BURGHARDT