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| Michael Mugliston (L) from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Stephen Payton (C) from New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade at the Q-and-A session of the business event in HCMC last Friday - Photo: Mong Binh |
“At the moment, Vietnam is an observer but has engaged in the process. And by the end of this year, we hope that Vietnam will have decided to become a full negotiating partner,” Payton told representatives of business groups and companies at a business luncheon in HCMC last Friday.
Payton and Michael Mugliston, special negotiator at the Free Trade Agreement Division of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, spoke on the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and regional economic integration at the event held by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham) in collaboration with partners.
The intention of the TPP is to establish a comprehensive regional trade agreement in consistency with principles of the global trade club WTO and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and to serve as a building block towards the latter’s ambitious reach of an Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area.
Payton said that one of the most exciting things about the TPP was that Vietnam was involved in the new trade agreement, which is hoped to be concluded by November next year when the APEC forum takes places in Honolulu of the U.S. “That’s what we are trying to do.”
“If the eight parties including Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam can conclude a high quality agreement, that will send another very strong signal to the region about what can be achieved collectively, even among countries which have different levels of economic development,” Payton said.
Brunei, Chile, Peru, Singapore and the U.S. are the other countries engaging in the TPP, which is recently being negotiated. The idea of this TPP was sowed early on a small agreement between New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile for a broader Trans-Pacific agreement covering East Asia and America.
Agreeing on a common set of rules for a diverse group of countries with different governmental and economic structures to follow is the hard job to finish to translate the TPP into a reality. “Can we draft the rules for a free and open trade, investment and economic environment in the region? That’s the goal that we have set ourselves,” Payton said.
ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand have created a high quality model that shows what can be done in the region through the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), Payton said.
In an interview with the Daily after the business luncheon, both Payton and Mugliston of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade agreed the effect of AANZFTA since January 1, 2010 was fueling trade between Vietnam and Australia and New Zealand.
Mugliston said in his presentation that Australia’s trade with Vietnam was A$3 billion in 2000 and stood at A$5.9 billion last year despite the impact of global downturn, accounting for 8% of that country’s total trade with ASEAN.
The proportion grew from the 7% in 2000, but this was not a worry. “I think it is important that we don’t just look at the share because my preference would be having a bigger cake. I’m happy to have even a smaller share of a big cake rather than a larger share of a smaller cake,” Mugliston explained to the Daily after the event.
Actually, the Australia-Vietnam trade recorded an annual average of 22% over the last five years to around AU$8 billion in 2007-2008 before the impact of the global financial crisis pulled the two-way merchandize value to A$5.9 billion last year.
