The role of the state in Vietnam's international economic integration

commitments for each field for all levels, sectors and enterprises to strive to implement. Here, we analyze and propose solutions on the part of the state to implement commitments to the WTO in the fields of agriculture, industry and services.

For agriculture : In fact, after more than two years of joining and implementing commitments to the WTO, agricultural production continues to develop comprehensively in the direction of commodity production, with good growth. The growth rate of agriculture, forestry and fishery in 2007 reached 3.76%; in 2008 it reached 4.07%; in 2009 it is estimated to increase by 1.9% [28, p. 67]. The Government has eliminated agricultural export subsidies in accordance with its commitments to the WTO, opened the market and reduced import taxes on agricultural products according to the roadmap such as meat, powdered milk, and animal feed. Although domestic prices of agricultural and aquatic products are higher than in 2006, they are still basically stable.

To ensure rapid and sustainable growth of agriculture in the context of economic integration and implementation of commitments to the WTO, the state needs to focus on solving important issues:

- Adjusting domestic policies: The Government needs to fully exploit WTO regulations for supporting production and export, build action programs and specific support measures. Direct agricultural support policies to production instead of business activities as at present. Agricultural production support policies need to comply with the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, specifically "Green Box" Support and "Blue Box" Support. In addition, the Government needs to build technical barriers permitted by the WTO to protect domestic agricultural products.

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- Promote the restructuring of the agricultural and rural economy, support businesses and farmers to improve the competitiveness of agricultural products and ensure markets for our country's agricultural products.

For industry : The reality after more than 2 years of joining the WTO shows that in 2007, the first year of joining the WTO, industry achieved a high growth rate of 17.1%, especially in the non-state sector and the foreign-invested sector (20.9% and 18.2%). In 2008, despite difficulties due to the global economic recession, the value of industrial production still maintained a growth rate of 13.9% at 1994 comparable prices. In 2009, the added value of industry and

Construction increased by about 5.4% [28, p. 67]. In the context of global economic recession, industrial production still maintained the growth rate at the above rate, which is a great effort.

In order for Vietnam's industry to continue to grow in terms of scale, competitiveness, export turnover and output value after joining the WTO, the government needs to focus on implementing a number of solutions :

- The State needs to have policies to adjust the industrial structure. Adjusting the industrial structure must be based on the needs of domestic and foreign markets, and must promote dynamic comparative advantages. Choose solutions suitable for each industry or group of industries. For example, for the textile industry, it is necessary to implement solutions to increase added value in products such as developing domestic raw material supply industries, limiting the import of input materials, investing in developing stages that create high added value for textiles such as design, marketing, etc.

-The capital demand for industrial development is very large, so the State needs to have appropriate policies and forms to mobilize domestic and foreign capital for industrial development, budget capital should prioritize investment in industrial infrastructure, FDI capital should prioritize investment in supporting industries and high-level industries.

-The State creates conditions and encourages enterprises to improve their competitiveness and improve the competitiveness of industrial products.

For the service sector : To rapidly and sustainably develop service industries in the context of international economic integration and to fulfill commitments to the WTO on the service sector, on the state side, it is necessary to implement the following solutions :

- Develop a comprehensive strategy for service development in the context of economic integration, especially after joining the WTO, by 2020 to serve as a basis for industries and localities to develop specific plans and implementation measures.

- Develop a roadmap to implement WTO commitments on the service sector for sectors and sub-sectors to strive to implement.

- Perfecting laws, mechanisms and policies related to service development with the following contents: perfecting the business environment such as removing barriers, gradually expanding business rights in the service sector; creating a favorable environment for service development.

Create a fair competitive environment in service business, attract the participation of the private economy and the economy with foreign investment in service provision; continue to socialize service provision; promote the development of "dynamic" services to create momentum for sustainable economic development.

3.2.2. Take advantage of opportunities brought about by integration, boost exports and increase attraction of foreign direct investment.

(1) Promote exports

Joining the WTO opens up great opportunities for Vietnam to expand its market and trade partners. After 2 years of joining, exports have grown strongly in both quantity and value, initially in the direction of increasing quality, properly implementing contracts, increasing competitiveness in traditional markets, and at the same time expanding new markets, new products, and gradually eliminating protectionist policies. Export turnover in 2007 reached 48.5 billion USD, an increase of 21.9% compared to 2006; in 2008 it reached 62.7 billion USD, an increase of 29.5% compared to 2007. The number of export items with turnover of over 1 billion USD increased from 10 items in 2007 to 20 items in 2008, of which 8 items were over 2 billion USD: crude oil, textiles, footwear, seafood...[15, p. 20]. But due to the impact of the deep recession of the world economy, in 2009, the export turnover of goods was estimated at 56.5 billion USD, down 9.9% compared to 2008 [28, p. 67].

In the coming time, to boost exports and take advantage of market expansion opportunities brought about by integration, the government needs to implement the following solutions :

- It is necessary to have a reasonable strategy to exploit the global market in order to open new markets, diversify export markets and increase export levels in existing markets. The right to access the markets of WTO member countries with reduced import tariffs is a favorable condition for Vietnamese enterprises to expand export markets and seek new markets. Diversifying export markets will avoid over-dependence on a few markets, thereby spreading risks and reducing losses. Therefore, Vietnam needs to continue to consolidate traditional markets, open new markets in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, markets that do not require too high quality goods.

- The State needs to have orientation and encourage, support businesses, diversify export products, increase the quantity and improve the quality of export goods, invest in developing new products with great growth potential. Promote the production and export of high-tech products with high added value such as electronic products, software, ... Because this is a type of product that can be produced on a large scale, taking advantage of low-cost resources to create advantages and is attracting many leading manufacturers in the world to invest. At the same time, develop the production and export of labor-intensive products such as textiles, leather shoes to take advantage of abundant and cheap human resources. For the group of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, it is necessary to implement solutions to improve quality, increase the proportion of processed goods, reduce the export of raw products. For services, increase the export of services with strengths such as tourism, maritime services, aviation services, ...

- Shifting the economic structure of the sector towards promoting comparative advantages, developing sectors with competitive advantages, prioritizing the development of high-tech sectors to increase the proportion of high-tech products, high intellectual content, and high added value in exported goods. At the same time, rapidly develop supporting technology. Reduce the proportion of exports of goods based on natural resources, instead, it is necessary to seek export products based on exploiting comparative advantages in human resources and geographical location.

- Actively attract FDI into export production sectors based on the export development strategy with a vision to 2020, identifying a number of key export sectors in the future based on promoting comparative advantages (shipbuilding, electric wires and cables, electronic components, services...).

- Continue to improve state management of import and export business, reform administrative procedures in accordance with international commitments, open markets, apply modern technology in import and export management. Train human resources for the import and export sector, especially foreign languages, economic law, market research ability, and international negotiation skills.

- Support businesses to promote trade to exploit and maintain existing markets and expand export markets.

(2) Increasing foreign investment attraction

After joining the WTO, foreign direct investment increased sharply. In 2 years (2007 and 2008), the country attracted 2,715 newly registered projects with a capital of 81.6 billion USD, accounting for 24.7% of the number of projects and 51% of the total registered capital since the Law on Foreign Investment took effect (1988). [15, p. 11]. However, due to the impact of the global economic recession, in 2009, foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction was low, estimated at 20 billion USD [28, p. 68]. The new feature of FDI projects after joining the WTO is the appearance of a number of large-scale projects invested in Vietnam by transnational corporations and the emergence of a new trend that Vietnam's investment abroad is increased. After two years of joining the WTO, foreign investment by Vietnamese enterprises has reached 2 billion USD, of which realized capital is 600 million USD.

To increase foreign investment attraction, in the coming time, the government needs to focus on implementing the following solutions:

- Continue to improve the legal system and investment policies in accordance with WTO commitments and international practices. The 2005 Investment Law has expanded the freedom of business, the State recognizes and protects the ownership rights and legitimate interests of investors, and treats domestic and foreign investors equally. The issue of concern now is the effective implementation of the Investment Law and the Enterprise Law (2005). Continue to develop missing guiding documents. Review regulations that are contrary to WTO commitments to take measures to ensure compliance with commitments in the investment sector.

- Adjust and complete investment planning. It is necessary to well implement the Government's decree on planning establishment, approval and management. Speed up the progress of construction and approval of missing plans; review and adjust plans that are not consistent with the overall plan and are outdated. Announce in detail the investment sectors and fields to create favorable conditions for investors to choose and determine projects. For industry, it is necessary to study and complete the planning of industrial parks, export processing zones, open economic zones, border gates, three key economic regions of North - Central - South... For the agricultural sector, the priority plans are land use planning, specialized area planning,...

- Continue to reform administrative procedures, simplify procedures for converting investment forms and business types. It is necessary to properly handle land procedures such as compensation, site clearance, relocation, and resettlement for people in investment areas. Continue to make transparent the process and procedures for granting investment certificates under the "one-stop" mechanism. Review administrative procedure problems in sectors and stages related to investment projects to speed up progress, investment registration, granting business registration certificates, and improve state management of investment projects to promptly detect and handle problems and issues arising in the implementation of FDI projects.

- There should be policies to attract foreign investors in some fields requiring high technology, export production, construction and development of supporting industries. In addition to support measures and investment incentives by field and location, there should be specific policies and measures to attract FDI from TNCs into large-scale projects, using high technology, and producing export goods. There should be a strategy on specific support policies to attract FDI projects into supporting industries, which is a weak industry but needs to be developed in our country today.

The issue of concern now is that the structure of FDI allocation in economic sectors is not reasonable. Investment capital in agriculture is low and tends to decrease (in the past 2 years, it only accounted for 0.67%), while in industry, it focuses too much on resource exploitation. Therefore, there needs to be a policy mechanism to adjust the structure of FDI allocation in economic sectors.

-Upgrading infrastructure and service quality. This is an urgent task not only for FDI projects but also for economic development.

- society in general. In addition to upgrading the transportation system, it is necessary to ensure the supply of electricity, water, telecommunications, etc. in the immediate future. Improve the quality of services serving investment implementation such as financial services, banking, technical services, technology transfer, labor and employment consulting services to increase the competitiveness of the investment environment.

- Training human resources according to the requirements of international economic integration . This is both an urgent and long-term issue. In fact, enterprises in general and FDI enterprises in particular have difficulty in recruiting qualified workers to implement projects. Therefore, quick measures are needed.

Rapidly increase the proportion of qualified workers. In the long term, it is necessary to adjust the structure of universities in the direction of increasing technological schools in accordance with development trends and practical situations. For vocational training, it is necessary to diversify types, focusing on high-quality vocational training.

- Promote investment promotion . Regularly update information on the development direction of the world market, investment trends, and concerns of investors in countries with large investments in our country, and large economic groups through investment promotion representative offices abroad. Implement traditional forms to attract investment such as through fairs, trade and tourism exchanges, and through websites; strengthen the activities of investment promotion delegations at all levels; encourage provinces to coordinate and cooperate in attracting investment, etc.

3.2.3. Continue to improve the economic legal system in accordance with WTO regulations and international practices to fulfill commitments.

Under the provisions of the WTO agreement, each member must ensure the consistency of its laws, regulations and administrative rules with its obligations under the WTO agreements.

To meet the requirements of joining the WTO, Vietnam has implemented a program of law and ordinance development that directly serves the negotiation process of joining the WTO. Immediately after the conclusion of negotiations on the conditions and regulations of Vietnam's WTO membership, we reviewed and compared Vietnam's legal documents related to specific commitments to the WTO. The review results showed that Vietnam did not have to amend or supplement many legal documents to implement Vietnam's commitments to the WTO.

The legal documents issued in recent times have created the necessary legal framework for the country's socio-economic development and international economic integration. However, in general, our country's legal system still has many shortcomings and some things are not in accordance with WTO regulations. Therefore, perfecting the legal system for a market economy and implementing Vietnam's commitments to the WTO is both a long-term and urgent issue. The amendment and improvement of the economic legal system must be based on two principles:

Firstly, it is necessary to base on the basic principles of the WTO to make corrections: non-discrimination, free trade and fair competition; must not contradict the principles of the WTO. Contents that are clear and detailed enough can be applied directly and transformed into law (domestication). This is the best way to implement Vietnam's commitments to the WTO.

Second, the law must be a coherent system, ensuring consistency between law and law, between law and sub-law documents, between national law and international practice, without contradiction or overlap. This is also a common requirement for all legal systems in the world.

In the coming years, the completion of the economic legal system needs to focus on the following main areas:

- Improve the law on ownership and freedom of business, create a healthy and equal competitive environment, in accordance with commitments. Therefore, it is necessary to issue sub-law documents and necessary procedures to implement the Enterprise Law, Investment Law, Competition Law to improve enforcement effectiveness. Support healthy competition, strictly handle acts of unfair competition, abuse of monopoly position.

Adjust and supplement the law according to the contents that Vietnam has committed to the WTO, AFTA, and international commitments. The basic principles of the WTO are the MFN (Favored Nation) Regulation: equal treatment with other countries; the National Treatment (NT) principle: equal treatment between foreign products and domestic products; the fair competition principle reflects the principle of free competition under equal conditions. Although the current law of Vietnam has general provisions on MFN and NT, the content of these concepts has not been clearly explained.

- Perfecting commercial law in accordance with WTO regulations and international trade law. The 2005 Commercial Law has overcome the limitations of the 1997 Commercial Law, with a broader scope of regulation, harmonizing Vietnam's commercial concept with international standards, creating a basis for resolving international trade disputes more easily.

However, Vietnam's commercial law needs to be further improved. Regarding the right to conduct import-export business, according to current regulations, the

The role of the state in Vietnam's international economic integration - 21

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