Spokesperson says U.S. catfish decision is unfair
(06/19/2003 -- 21:57GMT+7)
Ha Noi, June 19 (VNA) - The U.S. Department of Commerce's final verdict that imposes anti-dumping tariffs at high rate on "tra" and "basa" catfish imported from Viet Nam is unfair and far from objective, said Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh.
Thanh was answering correspondents' questions on Viet Nam's reaction to the June 17, 2003 verdict by the U.S. Department of Commerce against Vietnamese catfish exporters. She said: "The U.S. DoC's decision is unfair and far from objective, which does not reflect the true situation of "tra" and "basa" catfish raising, processing and exports by Vietnamese businesses."
"The decision reflects the trend of protecting domestic production at higher level in the US, runs counter to the policy on promoting trade liberalisation as well as international economic integration, as well as to the spirit of healthy competition that the U.S. had strongly committed to," the spokeswoman stressed.
She added such a decision does not conform to the Viet Nam-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement, but hurts the Vietnamese catfish industry, causing more difficulties and losses to Vietnamese businesses and farmers as well as the U.S. customers themselves.
