Max Baucus, senator from Montana, was speaking at a presentation made by US Trade Representative Rob Portman on US Trade Policy in 2006 before the US Congress Thursday and Friday.

The Congress, the bicameral US legislature made up of the Senate and House of Representatives, is scheduled to discuss and fix a time for voting on the proposal some time after the two governments complete negotiations on Vietnam’s accession to the WTO.

In his presentation, the trade chief said the US and Vietnamese governments were about to complete negotiations on Vietnam’s WTO accession and Vietnam might become a member of the organization this year.

Vietnam Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen last week said the negotiations were going smoothly and the two sides were arranging for a new round early March.

If it completed the talks, Vietnam would get have an advantage in other multilateral negotiations, Tuyen said.

Reported by Xuan Danh – Translated by T.T.