Vietnam has reached agreement on a trade deal with the United States that should pave the way for the communist-run country to join the World Trade Organization, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Sunday.
The agreement lowers tariffs on U.S. industrial and farm products substantially and removes non-tariff barriers that block U.S. service providers from working in Vietnam, said Stephen Norton, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative, in a statement.
"This is a very good agreement for the United States," said outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, who has been nominated to be the next White House budget director.
"It opens a new and growing market for American agricultural goods, services, such as financial services, and manufactured products," he said.
"Vietnam recognizes that broad-based reform and economic liberalization are essential to its integration into the global economy. We intend to work hard with Vietnam to complete the process of its full accession to the WTO in the near future," Portman said in a statement.
In Hanoi, the VietnamNet online newspaper quoted sources close to the Vietnamese trade negotiators in Washington as saying the two sides had reached agreement after "finding a common voice" on outstanding trade issues.
Some members of the U.S. Congress were expected to put religious and human rights constraints on any trade bill. But on a visit to Hanoi last month, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, urged Congress to pass a deal because the "greater good" outweighed human rights concerns.
Vietnam has completed deals needed to enter the WTO with all of its other leading trade partners.
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.
The United States and Vietnam restored diplomatic relations in 1995, 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War. Since the countries signed an previous business deal in 2001 known as the Bilateral Trade Agreement, Vietnamese exports to the United States have grown to more than $6.5 billion in 2005.