MoIT leader meets WTO Director-General

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to promote the multilateral trade system and other agendas being implemented by the WTO. Specifically, the host and the guest reviewed achievements of the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) held in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2022. Minister Nguyen Hong Dien highly appreciated the results of MC12 and updated meeting participants on Vietnam’s implementation of a number of agreed contents made at this conference. The two sides also discussed a number of issues of great interest to Vietnam and the WTO members, including initiatives to reform this organization, and the Action on Climate and Trade (ACT), among others.

Also at the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien noted the trend when there are increasingly more parties participating in and signing free trade agreements (FTAs) and/or regional trade agreements (RTAs) in recent years. This trend, according to the Minister, is attributed to both objective and subjective reasons, and in that context, the WTO needs an early, powerful and substantive transformation and reform to further maintain its role as the foundation of a transparent and fair multilateral trade system operating based on certain rules and to ensure benefits and practical efficiency for member countries. Vietnam always attaches importance to the provisions of the multilateral trade system and always considers this as the foundation for building regulations in free trade agreements. Vietnam hopes that some relevant provisions in FTAs will be multilateralized, making the WTO stronger and capable of solving new challenges arising concerning global trade.

The WTO Director-General highly appreciated Vietnam’s impressive economic and trade growth in the context of the hard global economic situation in recent years, emphasizing that Vietnam is a “bright example” of international economic integration-based economic growth, which has helped it promote trade and investment, successfully join the globalization process, and reshape regional and international supply chains.

The meeting was within the framework of the WTO Director-General’s official visit to Vietnam from May 17 to 19. She also paid a courtesy call on Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and met representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.