VZCZCXRO2804
PP RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0404 0610756
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020756Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4803
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1176
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 2692
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0649
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 2441
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 1782
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 5496
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 2317
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0012
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2254
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 6860
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0499
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 3098
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5659
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 0023
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO 0005
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0031
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 1117
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1478
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS HANOI 000404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
COMMERCE FOR ERIC HOLLOWAY 
STATE PASS USTR FOR DAVID BISBEE AND JASON BERNSTEIN 
GENEVA PASS TO USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECON WTRO VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM SUPPORTS MAINTAINING ITA DUTY-FREE COVERAGE 
 
 
(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET. 
 
REF: STATE 22242 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a March 1 meeting, the Ministry of Trade's 
(MOT) Multilateral Trade Policy Department Deputy Director General, 
Luong Hoang Thai, expressed support for the U.S. position on 
maintaining duty-free coverage of information technology (IT) 
products covered under the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
Informational Technology Agreement (ITA), as detailed in reftel. 
Mr. Thai committed to ask Vietnam's representatives in Geneva to 
attend the March 6 informal ITA Committee meeting and voice support 
for the U.S. position.  ASEAN countries typically develop a unified 
position on these issues, Thai explained, commenting that possible 
new European Union (EU) duties on certain products covered by the 
ITA would negatively impact exports from many ASEAN countries - 
thereby making an ASEAN-wide statement supporting the U.S. position 
"highly likely."  The MOT will direct Vietnam's representative in 
Geneva to push for such a statement.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a March 1 meeting, Ministry of Trade's Multilateral 
Trade Department Deputy Director General Luong Hoang Thai agreed 
with United States opposition to new duties by ITA member countries 
on technologically advanced versions of ITA-covered products. 
Although still relatively small, Vietnam's exports of ITA products 
to the European Union are growing rapidly, Thai said.  Furthermore, 
new tariffs by the European Union could potentially hamper future 
development in Vietnam's IT industry - an area the Prime Minister 
has targeted as a key growth sector in the coming years. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mr. Thai said that Vietnam's representatives in Geneva 
informed him that this issue was discussed during the first round of 
informal discussions on January 19.  He committed to ask them to 
attend the second round of discussions on March 6 and voice support 
for the U.S. position.  Econoff provided Thai a copy of the U.S. 
proposal (G/IT/W/26) circulated during the January 19 meeting along 
with ITA trade statistics detailing EU imports of ITA-covered 
products.  DDG Thai noted that he would incorporate this trade data 
in the ministry's request to Geneva. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although Vietnam's experience in the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) is short, having only been a member since January 
11, it typically works to develop a unified position with fellow 
ASEAN members on WTO-related matters such as this, Thai explained. 
Referring to the EU import statistics, DDG Thai noted that countries 
like Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia 
would also stand to lose should the EU apply new tariffs on their IT 
exports.  He presumed, therefore, that it would be "highly likely" 
the ASEAN countries will agree to publicly support the U.S. position 
during the March 6 meeting.  The Ministry of Trade will instruct its 
Geneva-based representatives to push for such an agreement with 
other ASEAN member representatives in Geneva, Thai said. 
 
¶5. (SBU) DDG Thai concluded the meeting by thanking the United 
States for bringing this important issue to the Ministry of Trade's 
attention.  He expressed his hope that this would be among the first 
of many opportunities for our countries to cooperate in the WTO. 
 
MARINE