Vietnam will lobby for the U.S. Congressional approval for Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for it, and hold a new round of multilateral negotiations on its WTO entry, local newspaper Vietnam News Thursday quoted a deputy prime minister as reporting.

"We will try out the best to be granted PNTR status. I think there are positive signs on the issue from the U.S. side... I intend to ask the National Assembly (the highest legislative body) to assist the government in lobbying the U.S. Congress to adopt the PNTR," the newspaper quoted deputy prime minister Vu Khoan as saying.

Vietnam wrapped up bilateral negotiations on its World Trade Organization (WTO) membership with the last, also the toughest partner, the United States, on May 13, paving the way for the Southeast Asian nation to join the global club, hopefully in late 2006, after 11 years of bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

"Regarding the United States, Vietnam has three more tasks, namely to document the results of the negotiations, to sign that document, and then to lobby for the U.S. Congress' approval of PNTR status," Khoan said.

As for other WTO member countries, Vietnam will hold a new multilateral round of negotiations, possibly by the end of June or early July. After that, it will make an admission report.

"However, Vietnam will have to add the agreements that we have recently reached with other countries before delivering the report to the WTO for consideration and approval," he said.

Vietnam and the United States are widely believed to officially ink the conclusion agreement when U.S. Trade Representative- designate Susan Schwab attends the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Ministers' Meeting slated for June 1-2 in southern Ho Chi Minh City.

Khoan said Vietnam had inked agreements on its WTO accession in principle in bilateral negotiations and just had to wait to complete multilateral negotiations.

Vietnam, which applied for WTO membership in 1995, started substantial bilateral negotiations with the United States in 2002. The United States was Vietnam's last partner out of a total of 28 WTO members, including Australia, Japan, China and Brazil, which required bilateral negotiations.

Source: Xinhua