This was the first such event Vietnam has attended as a WTO member. Khanh said that despite the global trade and financial slowdown, Vietnam is still pursuing its commitment to a multilateral trade system. He wished success to the 9^th WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in December in Bali, Indonesia. Vietnam’s trade policies were reviewed in a report by the WTO Secretariat, highlighting the political and economic reforms that have changed Vietnam from a poor to a middle-income country, and from a central-planning to a market economy which is integrating into the world trade and investment system. A liberalized service industry, one of Vietnam’s economic spearheads, is an outcome of its WTO membership.