The exception was the US-Viet Nam Bilateral Trade Agreement, signed on 13 July 2000 and entered into force on 10 December 2001. Viet Nam was granted MFN trade status, providing it with substantially better access to the United States: average tariffs fell from 40% to less than 3%. In return, Viet Nam agreed to open up some of its services sectors (banking, insurance, and telecommunications), enhance protection of intellectual property rights and improve its foreign investment regime (WTO, 2013). The Agreement was prepared on the basis of WTO principles and was regarded as a very important step towards WTO membership (Vo, 2005).