The US government has extended support for Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said a press release by the US Embassy in Hanoi on Saturday.

The pledge was made during a meeting between Deputy US trade representative Josette Sheeran Shiner and top Vietnamese government officials here on Friday, said the embassy.

"Ambassador Shiner commended Vietnam for moving forward in its WTO accession process. She offered technical assistance to the Vietnamese government to advance the accession process".

Shiner urged Vietnam to timely realize its commitments under the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, which took effect in December 2001, as a necessary step towards meeting its goal of WTOaccession.

She also highlighted opportunities for Vietnam to "further improve its investment climate for services and manufacturing, including insurance, telecommunications, distribution and autos," said the release.

Vietnam and the United States will hold the next round of bilateral accession negotiations in early October, but the host country is to be decided yet.

Vietnam has said repeatedly that it will make greater efforts and need stronger support in the form of concrete actions of its partners to be admitted to the WTO as soon as possible, maybe in late 2005.

Now, the United States is Vietnam's biggest export market, accounting for around 18 percent of Vietnam's total exports. Bilateral trade volume stood at roughly 5.1 billion US dollars last year, up from nearly 2.9 billion dollars in 2002.

Source: Xinhua