Vietnamese Perpective On Poverty Alleviation Through Aquaculture Export Development Lam Quoc Tuan Asia Trade Initiative NACA AquaMarkets 2003 Accessing and Meeting Requirements of Markets for Aquaculture Products Manila, Philippines, June 2003 Vietnam Case Study

Human Development Challenge in fisheries Empower viable fishing communities, with ability to manage fish resources, Provide equitable access to fish and ensure food security Enable small producers to gain export income, Ensure sustainability of fish stocks in territorial waters and high seas,

External factors Depletion of fish stocks, particularly those accessible to small fishermen Degradation of fishing environment Small fisherman lack access to export markets, Increased concern in major markets with health, environmental standards

Aquaculture and poverty alleviation potential Decreased fish capture due to resource degradation.  Aquaculture - main source for fish supply for domestic use and export in Vietnam.  To secure food for the country.  To create employment for about 2 million laborers.

Market accession Sustainable Aquaculture for Poverty Alleviation (SAPA) Strengthen Management Capacity Aquaculture Export Development Aquaculture and poverty alleviation potential

Aquaculture in Vietnam Aquaculture forms: shrimp, prawn, crab, fish and seaweed farming. End of 2001, aquaculture areas is 1,090,000 ha (220,000 ha transferred from rice, salt fields).

Trade Openess WTO’s goals is to promote openess, fairness and predictability in international trade for the human development. The reward of openess in Vietnam is higher rate of growth. Vietnam is in the process of negotiating its accession to the WTO.

Existing problems on fish trade 1.The WTO Agreement on Agriculture did not cover the fish sector. 2.Below-average reduction of tariff rate. 3.Significant impact of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures upon export capacity and competitiveness. 4.Aquatic products are still among the most protected categories.

Multilateral Trade Regime Low - average tariffs, but tariff peaks on value added products, anti-dumping duties, Stringent health and environmental regulations, eco-labelling schemes No effective control over subsidies to fishing industries,

Objectives in Doha Round Tariff liberalization, Effective rules on fishing subsidies, Sanitary regulations that recognize developing countries’ realities, technical and financial assistance,

WTO accession Some problems faced by Vietnam fisheries could be addressed if Vietnam were a member of the WTO. The non – market economy (NME) criteria used by the USA completely out of line with WTO provisions. The lack of scientific basis for the classification of catfish/basa and tra fish could be easily challenged under the dispute settlement mechanism.

Aquatic Products Export Subsidies Export subsidies play an important role in development of WTO developing member countries. As WTO member, Vietnam should have the right to export subsidies (Agreement on Subsidies) as its per capita GNP is less than USD 1,000.