Vietnam and the United States officially signed Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City a deal on the former's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), paving the way for its membership late this year as expected.

The deal was inked by Vietnamese Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu and U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Karan Bhatia at the end of bilateral negotiations on the WTO accession on the eve of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade in the city.

U.S. Trade Representative-designate Susan Schwab, head of the U. S. WTO negotiation delegation Dorothy Dwoskin, and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan were present at the signing ceremony.

Before the signing ceremony, Khoan and Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen met with Schwab separately.

Vietnam is actively lobbying for the U.S. Congressional approval for Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for the country, which hopefully takes place before the congress's summer season in August.

Tuyen has recently told reporters the 13th round of multilateral negotiations about Vietnam's entry to the WTO will be held in mid-July. He expressed the hope that it would be the last multilateral talks.

Vietnam on May 12 concluded the bilateral negotiations with the United States, the last of 28 partners which required bilateral talks, paving the way for the Southeast Asian nation to join the global trading club, after 11 years of bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

Under the deal, some three-fourths of U.S. farm products will be subject to Vietnam's import tariffs of 15 percent downward. They include fiber cotton, selected beef, grape, apple, peach, pear, soy-bean, pork and other kinds of meat. Up to 94 percent of U.S. manufactured goods will bear import tax rates of no more than 15 percent, local newspaper Young People reported recently.

Also under the deal, Vietnam pledges to open up telecommunications, including satellite services, and distribution, financial and energy services, and allow the establishment of branches of foreign non-life insurance companies.

Source: Xinhua