Press Conference
(Ha Noi, March 21st,  2013)

ANNOUNCEMENT:

1. FM Pham Binh Minh to visit to Qatar (Mar. 24) 

At the invitation of Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani of the State of Qatar, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will pay an official visit to Qatar on March 24, 2013.

The two Ministers will hold talks to discuss measures to promote bilateral cooperation in areas of economic-trade, investment, labour and international and regional issues of mutual concern.

2. FM Pham Binh Minh to visit to France (Mar. 25-28)

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of the Republic of France, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will pay an official visit to France from March 25 to 28, 2013.

The two Ministers will discuss measures and orientations to promote bilateral cooperation in areas of politics, diplomacy, trade and investment, development cooperation, education and training, science and technology, healthcare and legislation, aiming at elevating Viet Nam – France relations to new height. Minister Pham Binh Minh will meet with French Government and Parliament leaders.

Q&A

Question: Please comment on a decision by the US Department of Commerce at the 8th Administrative Review (POR8) to abruptly replace Bangladesh with Indonesia as the benchmark country for calculation of input costs of Vietnamese Tra fish production, resulting in an increase of anti-dumping margins on Tra fish fillets imported from Viet Nam many times higher than those at the preliminary and other previous reviews.

Answer:

That decision by the US Department of Commerce is neither fair nor objective. We have in many occasions affirmed that Vietnamese exporters do not dump frozen Tra fish fillets as well as other aquatic and sea products in the US market and thus requested the US Department of Commerce to impose no anti-dumping tariff on Tra fish and other aquatic and sea products imported from Viet Nam.

It’s our view that bilateral trade issues should be reviewed in a fair and objective manner in line with regulations of the World Trade Organization and the spirit of trade liberalization, as well as the fine relationship between the two countries, for the benefits of Vietnamese and US businesses and consumers.