Vietnamese Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai (left) and WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo.

The meeting took place right after Mai, new Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, the WTO and other international organisations, presented President Nguyen Phu Trong’s credentials to the WTO leader.

Mai affirmed that Vietnam consistently pursues an open foreign policy and acts an active and responsible WTO member who fully supports a multilateral trading system, with the WTO as its core.

She reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to work in close coordination with the WTO Secretariat and member states to achieve meaningful outcomes in the fisheries subsidies negotiations and WTO reforms at the 12th Ministerial Conference, to be held in June.

Vietnam will complete its second trade policy review this December, the diplomat added.

Azevedo, for his part, lauded Vietnam’s socio-economic development and appreciated its commitments to international integration and active participation in the WTO and global trade at large.

He congratulated Mai on her new mission and voiced his hope that Vietnam will make positive contributions to the WTO reforms at the time when the 164-member grouping faces multiple challenges, necessitating it to change to stay adaptive and remain as a key pillar of the global trade.

Vietnam officially became the WTO’s 150th member in 2007 after a decade of negotiations./.VNA