Vietnam and Trans-Pacific Partnership participants

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PERU TO ATTEND NEGOTIATOR-LEVEL TPP MEETING IN VIETNAM
Last Updated: 2014-08-31
LIMA, Aug 30 (NNN-ANDINA) -- Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism is set to take part participate in the chief negotiator-level Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting to be held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, on Sept 1-10.

High on the agenda of the technical gathering related to the TPP is aimed at discussing pending issues regarding access to market and services, intellectual property rights, investment, environment, state-own enterprises (SOEs) and legal issues.

This session is expected to reach breakthroughs to conclude the TPP negotiations as soon as possible, according to a ministerial resolution released on Friday

The Peruvian delegation attending the event will be composed of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) such as Daisy Olortegui, Ernesto Guevara, Boris Gómez, José Luis Castillo, Lorena Urbina, Mónica del Pilar, Teresa Mera and Angela Guerra.

The TPP is currently being negotiated by 12 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. They make up nearly 40% of global GDP and one third of global trade.

When the TPP is signed, due later this year, it will enhance trade and investment among the TPP partner countries, promote innovation, economic growth and development, and support the creation and retention of jobs. -- NNN-ANDINA

 

[BoQ77]

Wintek set to increase investment to $2 billion
Taiwan’s manufacturer of touch panel and small-to-medium liquid crystal display units Wintek is planning to double its investment capital to expand the production capacity of its factory in Vietnam.

Kinh Bac City Development Holdings (KBC), the developer of the Quang Chau Industrial Park, reported that Wintek recently submitted its expansion plan to the Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee. The Taiwanese manufacturer’s first-phase facility in the park was registered with the total investment capital of 1.12 billion. The expansion project will increase the Wintek manufacturing facility to 100 hectares, from its current 24.

During President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to Wintek’s manufacturing facility last week, Hyley H. Huang, chairman of the firm’s management board, reported Wintek Vietnam operations for the last three years and its expansion plan.

If the investment is approved, Wintek will raise its total investment capital in Vietnam to more than $2 billion, making it one of the largest electronic firms in the country.

The Taiwanese manufacturer decided to raise the investment capital in its Vietnam facility from $250 million to $1.12 billion previously in 2012. At present, the firm is employing up to 10,000 local employees for the manufacture of touch screen units.

Jay Huang, spokesperson of Wintek did not respond to VIR’s request for further comment or details of the expansion project’s schedule. However, in the group’s 2013 annual report, Wintek announced that it had been moving labour-intensive processes to its Vietnam plant in response to rising labour costs in China which had negatively affected the company’s overall business performance.

Founded in 1990, Wintek’s touchscreen panels and TFT displays are primarily used in mobile phones, tablets, notebook computers, digital cameras, video players and portable navigation devices. Apart from their factory in the Quang Chau Industrial Park in the northern province of Bac Giang, it has two factories in Taiwan, two in China and one in India. The firm also has research and development centres in the US, China and Taiwan.

The company’s investment is expected to not only contribute to Bac Giang’s socio-economic development, but also contribute to supporting industries for Vietnam’s electronics sector.

 

[BoQ77]

TPP nations kick off fresh officials meeting in Vietnam
HANOI (Kyodo) -- Senior officials from 12 countries involved in the Pacific Rim free trade initiative began a fresh round of negotiations in Hanoi on Monday, aiming to clear a path for a broad agreement within this year.

But it is uncertain how much closer they can move over contentious issues, official sources say, as not a few issues remain to be resolved, while Japan and the United States -- the biggest economies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- have yet to secure a bilateral deal seen as key to advancing the broad negotiations.

The United States, which leads the TPP, is seeking to see a significant outcome in time for President Barack Obama's Asia trip in November, when a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is scheduled for Beijing.

Critics doubt if the blueprint is achievable, however, given the U.S. midterm elections in November that would make it hard for Washington to make tricky political decisions over outstanding issues.

During the 10-day working-level meeting in the Vietnamese capital, the 12 TPP negotiating countries will focus on three difficult areas -- intellectual property rights, the environment and reform of state-owned firms -- while also engaging in bilateral talks on tariff-cutting issues, according to a Japanese government official.

On the issue of intellectual property, the United States is in conflict with emerging economies over the protection period of data concerning new medicines, which would affect the availability of generic medicines.

Over the reform of state-owned firms to establish fair competition, Vietnam is opposed to setting unified rules as its economy is dominated by such companies. It is also uncertain whether developing economies will accept standards to protect the environment in the process of promoting global trade.

Developed and emerging countries have been at odds over all of the three issues and their negotiations have made little progress since the last working-level meeting held in Ottawa, Canada, in July, the sources said.

"This round of negotiations bears a significant implication in foreseeing the future direction of the TPP," Koji Tsuruoka, Japan's chief TPP negotiator, told reporters before his departure Monday for Hanoi.

But it will "not be the last (working-level) gathering" as there are many problems still left, he added.

On a separate track, Tokyo and Washington are slated to hold a series of bilateral working-level meetings in Tokyo and Washington this week and next week on the issue of market access for autos and agricultural products.

When Obama visited Tokyo in April, Japan's minister in charge of the TPP, Akira Amari, held round-the-clock bilateral talks with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to bridge their gaps.

Although they failed to reach a broad agreement that time, the two sides said they have "identified a path forward" on the outstanding issues, suggesting there has been major progress.

Amari said at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday it would be better for he and Froman to secure a bilateral agreement in September, in light of the goal proposed by Obama of striking a deal by all 12 parties in November.

"If (the 12 countries) are to strike a broad agreement in November, it'd be better if Japan and the United States found common ground on a ministerial level in September," Amari said.

The TPP -- which would account for around 40 percent of global gross domestic product and one-third of all world trade -- involves Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

September 01, 2014(Mainichi Japan)

 

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Analysis - 'Made in China' clothing sales may shrink under Pacific trade pact

September 4, 2014, 1:20 pm

Reuters Labourers work at a factory of Viet Huy garment company in Thuong Tin district, south of Hanoi in this January 4, 2012 file photo.REUTERS/Kham/Files
By Krista Hughes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Made in China" will be a less frequent sight in U.S. clothing stores if the United States has its way in a new trade pact negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim nations.

Washington aims to engineer a deal where Vietnam, set to be one of the big winners among the members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), would win apparel market share from China and other non-members, rather than Mexico and Central America.

Today, thanks to regional trade deals half of U.S. yarn and textile exports head south of the border, where cheap labour transforms them into clothes that mostly make it back to American shoppers, duty-free.

Many in the $57 billion (34.63 billion pound) U.S. yarn and textile industry fear the new pact, billed as the world's most ambitious trade agreement, will destroy that business model, which has helped the sector rebound from a decade-long slump and sustains more than 1.5 million regional jobs.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said tools such as rules of origin, which say how much local content is required to win duty-free status, and different timetables for tariff cuts could protect regional interests while also providing value for Vietnam.

People in the United States familiar with the negotiations are confident Vietnam could take considerable market share from China and other countries without trade preferences.

"If damage is done to Central America by the TPP, that has a devastating effect on the industry here," said Bill Jasper, chief executive of synthetic yarn maker Unifi .

"If structured properly and intelligently negotiated I think the majority of the impact is going to be on China and not on this region."

Clothing is a priority for Vietnam, which is hosting a round of negotiations on the pact this week, but is just one of many issues for other countries, which may seek concessions in other areas in return for siding with Washington on textiles.

The other TPP countries are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore.

In practice, different treatment of sectors depending on their U.S. economic impact could mean longer wait for tariff cuts on cotton garments like underwear and men's knit shirts, where Central America has greater market share. Tariffs on products where China dominates, such as down-filled jackets and synthetic dresses, could be cut quickly, giving Vietnam an edge.

Fabrics like silk and herringbone tweed, not mass produced by TPP nations, could bypass rules of origin demanding all clothing inputs from yarn on be sourced within the TPP, the U.S. official said, although Vietnam and many U.S. retailers would prefer a much longer list of exemptions.

Vietnam has already boosted its U.S.-bound exports by 38 percent since 2010 even with tariffs adding as much as a third to costs. Peterson Institute for International Economics modelling forecasts a further 46 percent rise in total exports by 2025, while exports from Mexico, China and India would fall.

Based on labour costs alone, U.S. and Central American textile firms are no match for their Asian rivals, although higher labour and environmental standards sought by the new pact are expected to push up costs for Vietnam.

Dan Nation, who heads the biggest U.S. yarn spinner, Parkdale Mills, said a living wage, benefits and respect for the environment were built into the cost structure of firms in the Americas, unlike in Vietnam, which the U.S. Department of Labour says is using child and forced labour.

"We have to do things they don't have to do, and we pay a lot more than 72 cents an hour," Nation said.


HOME ADVANTAGE

Still, the Americas have the advantage of proximity: to the consumer, increasingly important for "fast fashion" chains such as Zara , H&M and Forever 21, and to cheap, high-quality U.S. cotton.

The benefits are substantial enough to keep investment pouring into the U.S. cotton industry.

Canada's Gildan Activewear , which makes cotton wear in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic using U.S. yarn, is spending $340 million on U.S. spinning while Chinese textile manufacturer Keer Group plans a $218 million yarn spinning plant in South Carolina. "Apart from labour, all other manufacturing elements are cheaper in the States than in China," said Wally Wang, deputy general manager at Keer America.

Many industry insiders and experts contend the pact, which Washington hopes will reach broad agreement by November, will spark further changes in global textile and apparel trade?

China's share of the U.S. apparel market fell below 37 percent in mid-2014 from over 39 percent in 2010, while Vietnam's has grown to more than 10 percent.

"Vietnam is already less expensive than China, but then with the duty-free preference you might get a 12 to 32 percent duty break, that's going to make a huge difference," said Julia Hughes, president of the U.S. Fashion Industry Association.

China's Ministry of Commerce did not respond to questions and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile and Apparel declined comment.

But knitwear firm Shenzhou International Group <2313.HK>, which is planning to build fabric and garment factories in Vietnam, said in an interim report last week unfavourable trade policies in major importing nations and rising manufacturing costs were crimping market share.

Other Chinese companies, such as fabric makers Texhong Textile Group <2678.HK> and Pacific Textiles Holdings <1382.HK>, also look to use Vietnam as a base.

Rules of origin will force Vietnam to replace China as the main external supplier of yarn and textiles while it develops its own industry - possibly looking at Malaysia, or maybe even the United States.

Still, many experts warn that even with such constraints, the Americas' market share may also shrink after the TPP is implemented.

"It will have an effect and it could be a large one," said Patrick Conway, chair of economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


(Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing, Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Nguyen Phuong Linh in Hanoi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

 

[BoQ77]

The Potential of the TPP for Vietnam
The TPP, if it happens, could provide economic and strategic benefits for Vietnam.

By Truong-Minh Vu & Nguyen Nhat-Anh
September 04, 2014

As negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement take place behind closed doors in Hanoi from September 1 through 10, the TPP issue is becoming increasingly controversial in Vietnam. An intense domestic debate provides multiple lines of thought. One thing is certain, although not overtly discussed: the “China factor.” It is in fact an indispensable element of economic and political discourse revolving around Vietnam’s TPP accession. For certain analysts, it is either a driving force or a source of friction for the evolving nature of relations between these two neighbors cum comrades.

Domestically, the Vietnamese elite and scholars are debating the need for an urgent and dramatic shift, both in Vietnam’s distinctive growth model and its strategic approach, in order to seek a balanced position between great powers in the region.

The Logic of the TPP

In the last few years, Vietnam has been especially sensitive to Chinese economic and trade predominance. The trade balance between Vietnam and China has consistently been in China’s favor, and Vietnam’s trade deficit with China has ballooned. Unprocessed goods, such as crude oil and coal, account for a significant portion of Vietnam’s exports to China. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s manufacturers, even export-centric ones, are becoming more reliant on Chinese inputs. Imported Chinese goods encompass various essential materials for export-specific production, including raw materials, machinery and equipment, steel, chemicals, oil and fabrics. One of the most popular reasons given is the asymmetrical North-South divide between their economies, a serious concern for Vietnam.

That is an important reason why the TPP is significant in Vietnamese eyes. Since the first round of negotiations in 2009, the TPP has been regarded as a means for securing Vietnam’s economic interests vis-à-vis China. Hanoi worries that China’s size, geographic proximity, and mercantilist policies will harm Vietnamese economic development. In the shadow of the dragon, the concern that Vietnam’s core industries could be wiped out or at least dominated by Chinese companies is becoming very real.

However, Vietnam may be able to compensate for its trade deficit with China through a surplus in trade with TPP members, especially the U.S. It could also have a spill-over effect in the form of deeper cooperation in areas such as intellectual property, services and investments. That suggests TPP membership is the best bet for Vietnam at the moment, helping it to expand its export market and indirectly mitigating the unfavorable trade balance vis-à-vis China.

Still, the benefits would be far from certain. Take the textiles, garment and footwear industries, for example. Vietnam’s competitiveness in large markets such as the U.S. should give it comparative advantages over China. Yet the TPP’s rules of origin, namely the “yarn forward” rule, put the benefits in question. Vietnam’s supply chain is heavily dependent on Chinese inputs, which could disqualify Vietnamese garments makers from access to zero tariffs under the TPP. Vietnam could turn to other suppliers within the TPP, but none can match China on price. For the short term, at least, it will be unrealistic for Vietnam to expect an immediate decline in its reliance on the Chinese market.

‘Soft Balancing’

For those who believe that the TPP is not only an economic but also a political and strategic FTA, the economic benefits are ancillary. In the wake of the ongoing power shift within the region, the TPP is also considered by the Vietnamese elite and scholars as a “soft balancing” strategy against China’s growing assertiveness. The constantly fluctuating strategic environment has put Vietnam in a difficult position, especially in regards to recent incidents in the South China Sea.

In fact, the debate among Vietnamese pundits goes even further, with some arguing that the TPP is the most appropriate framework for the time being to propel Vietnam-U.S. relations both bilaterally and multilaterally. That may be reasonable. There are still several impediments to closer ties between Vietnam and the U.S. For one, Vietnam’s political affiliation with China is still a consideration. The long-time “Three No’s” – Vietnam’s non-alliance policy – are also an issue. This is where the TPP comes in as a “softer,” multilateral approach, which focuses more on trade to help minimize unexpected consequences.

Yet despite repeated calls for progress, the outlook for promoting U.S.-Vietnam bilateral relations via the TPP is very murky, as is the chance of using the trade bloc as a “soft alliance” against China. The negotiation process has been sluggish, with multiple missed deadlines. The process has put the plausibility of the TPP into some doubt, which is probably why a Vietnam-U.S. bilateral channel has been re-booted over the last couple of months. The TPP could have a profound impact on Vietnamese politics, but for now it remains hypothetical.

Truong-Minh Vu is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Centre for Global Studies, University of Bonn (Germany). Nguyen Nhat-Anh is an associate research fellow at the Faculty of International Relations, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

 

[BoQ77]

Official: Progress made as trade talks wrap up in Vietnam
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By Vicki Needham - 09/10/14 03:24 PM EDT

A top U.S. trade official said progress was made on a number of key issues as the 12-member nations try to wrap up work on a massive Asia-Pacific agreement.

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) chief negotiators completed 10 days of meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday saying they resolved many issues and continued to narrow the gap in other areas.

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"We have committed to a focused work plan, which will allow us to boost momentum and make continued progress,” said Barbara Weisel, U.S. chief negotiator for TPP.
"All countries involved want to reach a conclusion to unlock the enormous opportunity TPP represents.”

The countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — are expected to continue trying to make further progress on resolving major issues such as rules for state-owned enterprises, tariffs and intellectual property protections.

The aim of the United States and the 11 other countries is to "resolve the remaining issues as quickly as possible, including both on the text and market access packages."

Meanwhile, acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler has spent two days in Tokyo talking to Japanese leaders about agricultural and auto market access.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman plans to continue working bilaterally with many TPP counterparts in the coming weeks.

Next week, he will meet with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Ninh in Washington with other TPP ministers meetings expected to follow.

The next round of TPP talks has yet to be set.

President Obama is set to travel with other leaders to China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit where it is expected they will plug away at the outstanding issues

 

[BoQ77]

US opens door to tropical fruits from Vietnam
Vietnamese litchi and longan will be allowed to be sold in the U.S. starting in October, following an amended regulation from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The APHIS, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for protecting animal and plant health, has amended the “fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of litchi and longan fruit from Vietnam into the continental United States,” according to a document published in the Federal Register on Thursday.

The APHIS said Vietnamese litchi and longan will be required to undergo a systematic approach that includes requirements for treatment and inspection and restrictions on the distribution of the fruit.

“This will allow for the importation of litchi and longan fruit from Vietnam into the United States, while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests,” the document, serving as the final rule on the issue, reads.

The APHIS first proposed to allow importation of Vietnamese litchi and longan fruits in 2011, and eventually “adopted the proposed rule as a final rule, without change.”

The final rule takes effect on October 4.

However, the importation of Vietnamese litchi and longan fruit will not be allowed in Florida and Hawaii, where the tropical fruits are commercially grown, The Packer, a weekly on fresh fruit and vegetable industry news, said in its Wednesday report, citing the USDA.

The two states collectively produced 535 metric tons of litchi and 776 metric tons of longan in 2008, according to USDA data.

The USDA believed Vietnam's litchi and longan may have a negative economic impact on U.S. fruit growers, the Kansas-based newspaper said.

Imported fruit from Vietnam could hurt the price of U.S. fruit sold in Asian and Hispanic markets, where the demand for produce is more price-sensitive, according to the USDA.

Between 2007 and 2010, the Southeast Asian country shipped around 600 metric tons of litchi and 1,200 tons of longan to the U.S., the USDA said, citing Vietnamese trade sources.

It is also likely that Vietnamese litchi will be able to enter the Australian market, with local businesses promising to consider importing the fruit, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia.

The office has recently proposed an increase in the importation of Vietnamese products, including fruits and vegetables, to Australia.

“The proposal was highly appreciated by businesses in the state of Victoria, as well as Coles, a subsidiary of the country’s second largest retailer, Wesfarmers Limited,” the trade office said earlier this week.

 

[BoQ77]

Vietnam: top fish supplier to Colombia
Monday, September 22, 2014 - 17:51:14

Workers process fish fillets.
(Photo: VNA)

(VOVworld) - Vietnam was the biggest fish provider for Colombia in 2013, securing 36% of Colombia’s market share. The Virtual Business Centre (CVN) reported that Colombia imported 78,000 tons of fish last year, worth 188 million USD, up 41% in volume compared to the previous year. Tuna and tra fish were the favorite products, accounting for 19% and 16%, respectively, of the Colombian frozen fish market. The website dinero.com quoted aquaculture expert Fernando Bages as saying that tra fish imported from Vietnam was highly competitive thanks to its reasonable price and good quality.

 

[BoQ77]

Vietnam becomes biggest ASEAN supplier to US, takes aim at China
Thanh Nien News

HO CHI MINH CITY - Monday, November 03, 2014 19:03 Email Print

Workers at Dong Hung’s shoe manufacturer and exporter to the US in Binh Duong Province. Photo: Tien Long/Tuoi Tre

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) expects Vietnam’s export to the US to hit around US$29.4 billion by the end of 2014--making Vietnam the top Southeast Asian supplier to its former foe for the first time in its history.
AmCham predicts bilateral trade will continue to surge to $57 billion in 2020, leaving other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states far behind, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
Vietnam exported around $800 million to the US in 2000, which means the country will have increased trade nearly 36-fold in 14 years.
In the big picture, Vietnam has gone from representing 1 to 22 percent of ASEAN's trade with the US since 2000, beating out Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, Tuoi Tre reported recently, citing AmCham.

AmCham said Vietnam’s export to the US will account to 34.1 percent of the bloc's total exports by 2020.
Busy meeting high orders
Workers at Hugo Import Export Company in Ho Chi Minh City say they worked practically round the clock this month--a time they describe as peak season for dragon fruit exports.
They're hoping to ship 80 tons to the US in November, up from 20-30 tons in previous months.
Vuong Dinh Khoat, general director of Hugo, told Tuoi Tre: “We plan to export a total of 400 tons of dragon fruit to the US this year, up 50 tons from last year.”
Business insiders said dragon fruit exports to the US will rise to around 2,000 tons this year from 1,300 tons in 2013.
Nguyen Huu Dat, a plant quarantine official, said Vietnam exported $41.5 million worth of fruit and vegetables to the US during the first nine months of this year--“up an impressive 12 percent year-on-year.”
The US has also begun importing Vietnamese longans and lychee.
Seafood exports to the US reached roughly $1.3 billion in the first nine months of this year, making the US Vietnam’s biggest customer.
Tran Thien Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors, said shrimp exports to the US have increased 51.2 percent year-on-year to $820 million. Vietnam is the third-largest shrimp supplier to the US, after Indonesia and India.
Hai said the US began buying more from Vietnam after Thai farms were stricken by a series of diseases.
Garment boom
The most significant growth, according to AmCham, has occurred in the garment and textile sector.
Vietnam’s garment exports rose 14.85 percent in value between last September and this August making it the second-largest clothing exporter to the US after China.
Garments, footwear and woodwork exporters say they're busy with orders until the end of the year, or even next year if manufacturers continue to pivot from China to Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Le, deputy general director of Dong Hung Company in Binh Duong Province , said they have exported 1.78 million pairs of shoes worth around $34 million to the US this year, which accounts to nearly 28 percent of the company’s total export revenue.
“They’ve increased orders but also added complicated demands for their orders, so the pressure is on,” Le said.
Pham Phu Cuong, chairman of the Nha Be Garment Corporation said 35-40 percent of their export revenues come from the US.
“This is a big market. But they always place big orders, which force you to organize your production professionally.”
Even small companies see big potential.
The Vinh Thong Commerce and Manufacturing Company in HCMC exported 5,000 pairs of shoes worth $175,000 to the US this year, but expects to receive orders hundreds of times larger if “our negotiations work out well,” Nguyen Van Duc from the company’s management board said.
“We have identified the US a potential market,” Duc said.
Before signing up as a supplier for the US, the company sent two of its employees to study fashion design in Italy
They also set up a representative office in the US to catch up with local trends and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in machinery and equipment.
“We even designed our own advertisements.We understand that we won’t be able to compete with China without demonstrating a unique style,” Duc said.
TPP, China
Diep Thanh Kiet, vice chairman of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association, said the US is turning to Vietnam for two major reasons.
The first is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that is expected to cut US tariffs on most products produced in Vietnam and the other is that China is becoming a less competitive supplier.
Wages in China are much higher than Vietnam, in the footwear sector, while Vietnamese workers are just as skillful, Kiet said
“Vietnam is developing a reputation as the place where production costs the least,” he said.

 

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US-backed TPP to be ineffective without Russia, China – Putin
Published time: November 06, 2014 20:56

Russian President Vladimir Putin (RIA Novosti / Michael Klimentyev)

The US-proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) won’t be able to promote effective trade and economic cooperation if it excludes key regional players, like Russia and China, Russian President said ahead of his visit to Beijing for 25th APEC summit.

“Obviously, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is just another US attempt to build an architecture of regional economic cooperation that the US would benefit from,” the Russian President said in an interview with Chinese media. “At the same time, I believe that the absence of two major regional players such as Russia and China in its composition will not promote the establishment of effective trade and economic cooperation.”

The TPP is a proposed regional free-trade agreement, which is being negotiated by 12 states in the Asia-Pacific region, which include the US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

It was planned that the talks to launch the Partnership would be completed between 2005 and 2012, but complex issues like agriculture, intellectual property, investments and others saw the discussion continue until now.

Yet, President Putin stressed, it is not easy to evaluate the progress, which has been achieved in the talks on Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“This initiative is carried out behind closed doors, even businesses and the public of the contracting states have no access to it, let alone other countries. Over the past five years of negotiations, we have repeatedly heard about the success achieved, but such statements have always been refuted later,” he said.

Trade ministers and representatives attend a press conference at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial meeting in Singapore on February 25, 2014. (AFP Photo / Roslan Raman)


Many experts view the TPP as Washington’s attempt to counter APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) amid growing influence of Russia and China in the region.

Launched back in1989, the APEC is a forum of 21 Pacific Rim states aimed at promoting free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
The Russian president acknowledged that organization of different regional free trade agreements is currently “one of the global trends.”

However, he stressed that the free trade agreements “shouldn’t fragment the multilateral trading system, but rather complement it, contribute to its consolidation and growth of interconnectedness.”

“The regional unions should not be turned against each other or otherwise divided. Such agreements should be transparent, fair and address the needs of each economy. Regional integration should be transparent and promote information-sharing between all the negotiations processes,” the head of the Russian state explained.

According to Putin, those are the principles, strictly followed in the implementation of Russia “priority integration project,” the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia that will go into effect on 1 January 2015.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) is greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping (AFP Photo / Pool / Mark Ralston)


“Values and principles of this association’s activities are transparent and carried out in full compliance with the rules and regulations of the World Trade Organization,” the President said.

The annual 25th APEC summit will take place in Chinese capital, Beijing, on November 10-11, with the likes of Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe among the attendees.

As for relations between Moscow and Beijing, the Russian president reiterated that “strengthening ties with the People’s Republic of China is a foreign policy priority of Russia.”

“Today, our relations have reached the highest level of comprehensive equitable trust-based partnership and strategic interaction in their entire history,” he said.

Moscow made a pivot towards Beijing after the US and EU imposed sanctions on Russia over the events in Ukraine earlier this year. In May, the two countries signed a $400 billion deal to construct the Power of Siberia pipeline, which will deliver 4 trillion cubic meters of gas to China over 30 years.

Overall trade between Russia and China increased by 3.4 per cent in the first half of 2014, reaching $59.1 billion. The central banks of the two countries recently have signed a three-year ruble-yuan currency swap deal up to $25 billion, in order to boost trade using national currencies and lessen dependence on the dollar and euro.