Reviewing the trade policies of member countries is one of the most important tasks of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to ensure transparency in the implementation of commitments and obligations under the WTO framework.

On April 27 and 29, 2021 in Hanoi, the second session of Vietnam's trade policy review for the period 2013 – 2019 was held online. Attending the Review session, on the Vietnamese side, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh chaired the session with the participation of Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam in Geneva and representatives of ministries, branches and related agencies.

On the WTO side, the meeting was chaired by Ms. Athaliah Lesiba Molokomme, Ambassador Botswana, Head of the WTO Trade Policy Review Division with the participation of panelists, Ambassador – Head of the Dutch Delegation to the WTO Monique Van Daalen, representative of the WTO Secretariat and WTO members interested in Vietnam's Review Session.

At the trade policy review session, the WTO Secretariat and WTO members highly appreciated the contents of the Reports that Vietnam's ministries and sectors have coordinated to provide data and comments on; as well as the efforts of the Vietnamese side in trying to answer most of the nearly 900 questions and comments of WTO members (according to the WTO Secretariat's assessment, Vietnam is one of the five WTO members that get the most questions).

Regarding copyright and related rights field, Copyright Office of Vietnam received and answered 13/13 questions from countries: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and the European Union (EU). These questions focus on changes in Vietnam's policies, laws and practices, especially the protection of copyright and related rights in the digital environment in Vietnam.

Chairing the session, representatives of WTO member countries congratulated Vietnam on the success of the Trade Policy Review, emphasizing the achievements that Vietnam has achieved since joining the WTO as well as as since the first Trade Policy Review.

After the meeting, the WTO Secretariat and many WTO members welcomed the positive changes in Vietnam's socio-economic development and international integration achievements, especially maintaining economic growth. The economy has been at a positive level for many years and even in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, effectively linking growth with poverty reduction, improving the investment and business environment towards more transparency and openness, accelerate the process of joining new-generation free trade agreements such as the CPTPP and EVFTA Agreements and play an active role in the WTO and regional and international multilateral institutions such as ASEAN, APEC and especially on Vietnam's intellectual property rights, especially the promulgation of the Intellectual Property Strategy to 2030 and the ratification of the Protocol to amend the TRIPS Agreement.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Head of Government Negotiating Delegation Tran Quoc Khanh emphasized that in the coming time, Vietnam will closely associate proactive and active international integration with strengthening the capacity of building synchronous institutions; raise the level and quality of international integration; strictly implement international commitments and FTAs ​​to which Vietnam is a member.

Dĩnh Dĩnh