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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will make a statement on his Department's efforts to open up the Vietnamese economy to (a) domestic and (b) international trade; [199563] (2) if he will make a statement on his Department's plans to assist Vietnam in becoming a market-based economy. [199564] Mr. Alexander: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DfID) have adopted a joint approach to assist Vietnam in becoming a market-based economy, and in developing its domestic and international trade. Key to this is a common position on Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in particular an insistence on accession on terms that benefits all Vietnamese people, particularly its poor. The European Commission (which negotiates on behalf of EU member states on WTO accession) has been encouraged by the British Government to recognise, in the negotiation process, Vietnam's low income country status. In terms of developing Vietnam's domestic economy, DFID is working with the World Bank to support reform of state-owned enterprises (SOE). Activities focus on the restructuring of three general corporations to reduce state direct investment, and encouraging the private sector to play a stronger role. This area of reform is crucial to free-up government resources for social service provision and poverty reduction. DFID further supported the revision of key investment and enterprise laws to create a level playing field for business, and to reduce state intervention in company decision-making and the allocation of resources. In the longer term, DFID, in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, is helping the Government of Vietnam to identify and develop policies to make the transition to a market-based economy work in favour of the poor, through improving their access to land and other natural resources, through increased opportunities for employment and income generation, and through linking up the domestic markets within which they supply labour to global markets, for example those that supply supermarkets. For further information on this intervention I refer my hon. Friend to the Making Markets Work Better for the Poor website: www. markets4poor.org.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

428 c11-2W; 199563;199564

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Economic situation Trade Vietnam

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk