You came to the US in the capacity as Prime Minister's special envoy. What are the aims of the visit and the results of your meetings with leaders of the US Government, Congress and corporations? As a Prime Minister's special envoy, I have held meetings with senior officials of relevant ministries as well as Congressmen of both the US House of Representatives and the Senate.

I exchanged views with US politicians and businesses about Viet Nam-US relations at these meetings, stressing the dynamic development in the two countries' ties, especially after Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's US visit in June 2005.

At these meetings, I spoke of Viet Nam's achievements after 20 years of carrying out the renewal process and affirmed Viet Nam's determination to speed up comprehensive reforms.

I also informed the US side of Viet Nam's preparations for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting to take place at the end of this year in Ha Noi and the wish of the Vietnamese leaders and people that US President George W. Bush will visit Viet Nam and attend this Meeting. I highlighted the positive results of bilateral negotiations between Viet Nam and the US on Viet Nam's accession to the WTO and stated that Viet Nam wishes to conclude the negotiation process with the US at this round of negotiations in Washington D.C.

All the US politicians and businesses I met spoke highly of the dynamic development of Viet Nam-US relations and expressed a strong belief that Viet Nam and the US would soon conclude bilateral negotiations on Viet Nam's accession to the WTO, paving the way for the US Congress to give Viet Nam the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status, and affirmed their support for approval of PNTR to Viet Nam.

During your stay in the US, you have directed the 12th round of negotiations on Viet Nam's accession to the WTO. What are the negotiation results and what will the next steps be? The negotiation results have been clearly stated in the press release issued by the Government's negotiation delegation. The two sides will then complete the next step of signing the official agreement. The US Government can then submit approval for PNTR status for Viet Nam to Congress as soon as possible. This will complete the normalisation of relations between Viet Nam and the US and lay ground for further developments in the ties between the two countries. As for Viet Nam, we also need to be well prepared for the multi-lateral round of negotiations which are expected to take place in mid July in order to complete the negotiation process. Viet Nam should then be able to join the WTO by the end of this year.

More importantly, we should actively carry out preparations for WTO membership so as to take full advantage of these opportunities and overcome challenges, effectively integrate Viet Nam into the world's economy.

Source: Vietnam Agency