Vietnam officially becomes WTO's 150th member

11 Jan '07

1 min read

Today, much-awaited dream of Vietnam to become official member of WTO has come true. Vietnam officially joins WTO at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.

But, this is not the end of problems faced by the textile and apparel industry. They have to work much harder now to give tough competition in global market.

In post–WTO time, the industry would reap lot of advantages but have to face many challenges such as reduction of import taxes on materials like fabrics, fibres, threads etc. for achieving targets set by Vietnam.

This membership can improve trade opportunity for China and other members of WTO and can give wide range of choices for Vietnamese consumers.

Industry will not be restricted by exports quota mechanism and would receive lower export tax to some markets.

Barrier protecting the domestic industry by import tax would be minimized in accordance with WTO's commitments (at present, imports tax for fabric is at 40 percent and 50 percent for clothes. These would be reduced to about 15 percent in the coming time).

Membership of WTO will prove relevant for the industry as export taxes on Vietnam's wood products and import duties on raw materials will be sliced.

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