Vietnam will not join the World Trade Organization (WTO) before the APEC Summit meeting to be held in Hanoi in November at any cost, said a senior official.

Vietnam will not accept irrational commitments and requirements to join the global trading club before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times on Friday quoted Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen as saying.

However, Vietnam, with the current progress, hopes for its WTO accession before the event, he said.

The country is actively preparing for the multilateral negotiation round on its WTO entry scheduled for Oct. 8-9, he said, hoping that it is the last round of talks on the issue.

Vietnam on May 12 concluded the WTO 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, hopefully late 2006, after 11 years of bilateral and multilateral negotiations.

Source: Xinhua