HANOI Vietnam has reached an accord with the European Union on the nation's accession to the World Trade Organization, the EU said. The agreement may help Vietnam reach its goal of joining the global club in 2005.
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The accord announced Saturday calls for an average tariff level of 16 percent on industrial goods, 22 percent on fishery products and 24 percent on agricultural goods, the EU's Hanoi office said.
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Vietnam also made commitments that will take effect after it joins the trade organization in areas from financial services to telecommunications and tourism.
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Vietnam, which applied for WTO entry in 1995, said last year that talks had reached an "urgent stage" and called for a faster process. Vietnam's status outside the trade body means its shipments of garments, the country's second-biggest export, will remain subject to quotas when the quota system for WTO members is dropped at the end of this year.
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"Our agreement today unlocks the first door for Vietnam's entry into the WTO," the European Union trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy, said.
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Vietnam is still in talks on its WTO accession with countries including Australia, Canada, China, Japan and the United States. Vietnam has already reached agreements with Chile and Cuba, said Vietnam's trade minister, Truong Dinh Tuyen.
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After "extremely difficult" negotiations on services, Vietnam undertook commitments on cross-border services and in areas including construction, distribution, environmental services, express courier services, financial services, telecommunications, tourism and transportation, Lamy said.
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Bloomberg News
