Vietnam is expected to finish all bilateral talks on its accession to the World Trade Organization ( WTO), including those with three key partners, namely the United States, New Zealand and Australia, by early 2006 at the latest, local official of Trade Ministry said.

Vietnam is beefing up bilateral negotiations with the three countries from now to the end of this year, local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Tuesday quoted Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu as saying.

The country has agreed to reduce tariffs on agricultural products to 18-20 percent with an implementation roadmap of 3-5 years, and remove as many as possible the products from the list of imported goods imposed by tariff quotas, he said, adding that only three items, namely salt, sugar and tobacco leaves are now applied by the quotas.

Vietnam has also pledged to eliminate state subsidies for farm exports after it joins the world trade body, Tu noted.

Vietnam, which has concluded bilateral WTO negotiations with 22 partners, will have to finish talks to six others to complete the necessary process for its WTO entry.

Source: Xinhua