Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Jan. 3 (VNA) -- Viet Nam has never dumped "tra" and "basa" catfish in any markets, reiterated Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu.

Tu made the reaffirmation in Ha Noi on Friday while talking with Vietnamese pressmen on the American Catfish Farmers Association (CFA)'s accusation of Viet Nam's dumping of catfish on the international market. He said the CFA's accusation has caused harm to trade and interests of catfish raisers and consumers in the two countries.

On five U.S. senators' Dec. 20 letter asking the Secretary of Commerce Donal L. Evans to make careful consideration before issuing a decision on Viet Nam's catfish exports, Tu said that Viet Nam welcomed their support for Viet Nam in the abrupt lawsuit by the CFA against catfish exports from Viet Nam.

Tu said: "Viet Nam shares the U.S. senators' viewpoint, which was convinced by real evidence, that Viet Nam's competitive catfish price was the sole reason for the U.S. consumers' favour," he stressed, adding that any support for the irrational accusation run counter to President George Bush's statement on tariff rate of between 0-5 percent worldwide by 2015.

"Viet Nam had let U.S. exporters get benefit from the most favoured nation status two years before the Viet Nam-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) took effects. More than 700 U.S. businesses who directly or indirectly export goods to Viet Nam have received fair behavior and favourable conditions from Viet Nam.

"At the same time, Viet Nam imports agricultural materials and farm produce, chemical fertilizers, minerals, chemicals, planes and electric equipment from the United States."

The Deputy Trade Minister said that the trade deficit trend in commerce and services from the U.S. and the indirect trade deficit from third world countries would continue in the coming years. Meanwhile, the U.S. technical protection barrier has prevented Viet Nam's catfish exports. "This runs counter to the spirit of the BTA and the policy to liberalise commerce of the U.S. itself," Tu emphasised.

The Trade Ministry of Viet Nam asked the U.S. DOC to make fair considerations before issuing any decision in the mutual interest of the two countries in general and of U.S. consumers and businesses in particular, Tu concluded.