President Truong Tan Sang and the Acting Trade Representative of the
US, Ambassador Demetrios James Marantis said they believe Vietnam and
the US will soon reach an agreement on the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP).
At a meeting with the US
acting trade representative in Hanoi on April 23, President Sang
affirmed that the Vietnamese Party and State leaders will create
conditions for the TPP negotiations to take place smoothly and achieve
desired outcomes.
He appreciated the US’s support
during the TPP negotiations and urged the US delegation to take time
to study the specific investment, trade and labour conditions in
Vietnam in order to achieve consensus on many contents during the
negotiations.
Vietnam will do its best and at
the same time hopes to receive technical assistance from the US for
successful negotiations, laying the prerequisite to enhance the
Vietnam-US relations, Sang said.
According to the
US Ambassador, there are many contents the two countries need to
discuss in order to complete TPP negotiations this October.
He said the two sides need to try their best to narrow the differences
in their viewpoints about the fields of goods, service and investment,
adding that Vietnam and the US should also have a mechanism to
agree on standards in the labour and environment and deal with any
arising disputes.
He affirmed that the US is
willing to provide technical assistance to help Vietnam overcome
difficulties in its integration process.
The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh received the US Trade Representative at the government’s headquarters.
They agreed that the two sides have achieved important outcomes during
the TPP negotiation process and will try their best to narrow
differences in the up-coming rounds.
The US
Ambassador said the TPP will create opportunities for the two countries
and their partners to increase trade and export and create more jobs.
He noted the strong development in US-Vietnam trade,
with the US now being the largest export market of Vietnam . Two
way trade jumped from 2 billion USD in 2001 to 26 billion USD last year.-VNA