According to the AFP in Washington, DC, the round of negotiations is expected to end on May 11 and, in Mr Tuyen’s opinion, the Vietnam-US gap in WTO negotiations has been narrowed.

US mass media agencies have reported on the prospects of the negotiations, expressing hope that this round will be the final before Vietnam is admitted to the WTO.

Nguoi Viet Online quoted Virginia Foote, President of the US-Vietnam Trade Council, as saying optimistically that "the final agreement will be reached this week".

Viet bao ran an article with the title "US, Vietnam hope to ink trade agreement this week". But it also raised some existing problems such as agricultural subsidies, special taxes on beverage, rates of dividend in joint-ventures and barriers against imported US motorbikes of high cubic capacity.

However, some other sources in Washington quoted a US trade official as saying that the two sides would have to negotiate longer this time because of wider differences in their interests.