PM pitches for industry competitiveness ahead of WTO membership
12 Aug '06
1 min read
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has sought views of concerned ministries to chalk out plans and roadmaps to prepare the local industry to face foreign competition once the country joins World Trade Organization (WTO).
Dung has asked the Finance and Trade ministries to prepare a plan for tariff reductions in order to honour the obligations it has made to member countries.
He emphasized that focus must be on improving the investment and business environment by removing taxes and bureaucratic hurdles while the public sector enterprises must make themselves competent.
While negotiating for a berth in WTO, Vietnam has made bilateral commitment to 26 other members that it will make every effort to condense import duties by 22 percent from its current level.
Reduction in import duty will be done in a phased manner and will be implemented over a five-year time frame. Import tax will be reduced by 36 percent from its current level of 10,600 different levels.
Reduction rates are different for each sector with duties in textile and garment scheduled to be cut by atleast 63.2 percent, it was reported.
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