U S, Vietnam in final bid for WTO membership deal

Washington, May 8 : The United States and Vietnam could soon take another major step toward closer relations by wrapping up a deal for Hanoi to join the World Trade Organization, a U.S. business official said on Monday.

''I'm optimistic they will reach final agreement this week, if not this month,'' said Virginia Foot, president of the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, as the two countries kicked off four days of talks on tough remaining issues.

A deal with the United States would remove one of the largest remaining hurdles to Vietnam's entry into the WTO.

It would also be another step in a nearly two-decades old process of normalizing relations between the two countries following the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975 when North Vietnamese forces took over the southern part of Vietnam.

Hanoi wants to be a WTO member by the time it hosts U.S.

President George W. Bush in November for the annual summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Vietnam is also hosting an APEC trade ministers meeting June 1-2 in Ho Chi Minh City, providing a dramatic setting for the United States and Vietnam to sign a bilateral WTO accession agreement if final details cannot be resolved this week.

Once there is an agreement, Congress must decide whether to approve ''permanent normal trade relations'' (PNTR) with Vietnam by removing a Cold War trade restriction known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

That measure links U.S. trade benefits to emigration and human rights policies of communist or formerly communist countries. Approving PNTR would remove the need for the White House to annually waive the provision, as it does now.

Congress took that step for China in 2000, paving the way for Beijing to enter the WTO the following year. It recently approved PNTR for Ukraine, which also hopes to join the world trade body this year.

The outlook for approval of PNTR for Vietnam is believed to be much better than for Russia, another country still subject to Jackson-Vanik and in the final stages of talks with the United States on a WTO accession deal.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert told reporters during a visit to Hanoi last month that he expected lawmakers to offer amendments during the debate on PNTR aimed at addressing human and religious rights concerns.

The House passed a resolution in April calling on Vietnam to release Dr. Pham Hong Son and other democracy and religious activists, and linked the measure to WTO accession.

But Hastert said last month ''the greater good'' would be served by approving PNTR for Vietnam.

Reuters