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A European Union (EU) official has praised Vietnam’s efforts to satisfy EU criteria regarding market economy status, saying the country was likely to be granted it before the target date of 2018.
Fritz-Harald Wenig, Director of the Trade Defense Instrument Directorate at the European Commission's General Trade Directorate, affirmed that Vietnam has made great strides in adopting and issuing laws and regulations, which are in line with the criteria of a market economy.
However, the EU needs to consider the supervision and implementation of laws in the country, Wenig told a press briefing in Hanoi Friday after the first EU-Vietnam working group meeting on criteria of market economy status, which took place on Mar. 8-9.
Vietnam has seen improvements in a number of areas, particularly those regarding state involvement in assessment, production costs and the process of going public for state-owned enterprises, said the EC official.
Asked whether Vietnam will get EU recognition of market economy status before the 12-year term due in 2018 or not, Wenig said “The answer is ‘yes.’ We think Vietnam is worthy of receiving an early answer and it needs to strengthen cooperation to speed up the process.”
“However, I want to say that this depends mostly on Vietnam’s capacity of implementing relevant laws and regulations.”
“I’m optimistic that Vietnam will be granted EU market economy status before the target date of 2018,” he said.
Vietnam originally lodged its request to be recognized as a market economy in June 2004.
Accordingly, the EC carried out a first assessment in October 2004 and requested further information, most of which was provided in June 2005 in a meeting on market economy status hosted in Hanoi by the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and the EC Trade Defense services.
The remaining information was given in September 2005 and March 2006.
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