The admission ceremony could be organized at the headquarters of WTO in Geneva, Switzerland.

The first multilateral negotiation for Vietnam’s accession to WTO is scheduled in July 2006. Mr Xuan said that at this round, 28 partners would likely continue to put pressure on Vietnam to reach their final goals. However, now that Vietnam has reached agreement with the US in bilateral negotiation, the multilateral round of negotiation should be swift.

That’s also the reason for WTO General Director Pascal Lamy’s optimism for Vietnam’s admission to WTO this October. Mr Pascal Lamy agreed with Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen about the negotiation and admission schedule of Vietnam to the WTO, on the sidelines of the APEC Trade Ministerial Meeting several days ago.

Reviewing the recent bilateral negotiations, Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan, said that the most difficult partner is the US, followed by Honduras and Dominica.

According to him, representatives from Honduras and Dominica always seek the right of initial negotiation on every category of goods. Having this right means that said partner can ask to re-negotiate on any type of goods, even once Vietnam is in the WTO. This is unacceptable and difficult to realize because there are thousands of tax lines the require negotiation.

Several other partners have also asked for this right on special products, for example Australia with milk and other products, Latin American countries for pepper, coffee and bananas. Only Honduras and Dominica has asked for the right on all kinds of goods.

According to Mr Xuan, till the final months of negotiations, the ambassadors of Honduras and Dominica met with Vietnamese partners. Their decision to conclude negotiations with Vietnam was based on political reasons. “I think that this is one method we can apply in future rounds of negotiation,” said Ambassador Xuan.

VNE