Russia had not planned to hold bilateral talks with Vietnam, but in late 2006 Vietnam became a full-fledged WTO member and voiced its intention to hold talks with Russia.
"We begin negotiations with Vietnam in Hanoi Sunday [April 1], and talks with Cambodia will be held in Phnom Penh April 4-5," said Maksim Medvedkov, head of the economics ministry's trade talks department.
Russia has proposed to Vietnam and Cambodia that talks only cover the export products these countries have an interest in, because this will speed up the negotiating process, Medvedkov earlier said.
Medvedkov confirmed that Russia aims to join the WTO by the end of 2007.
"We hope that we'll be able to solve most of the issues by the end of June to complete all the negotiations in September-October and submit documents to the State Duma [the lower house of Russia's parliament] for ratification before the beginning of January, that is, before a new parliament is elected," the chief WTO negotiator said.
Moscow has signed bilateral protocols with all but four WTO members and is yet to complete multilateral talks with its trade partners within the global trade body.
Vietnam joined the WTO last year and requested talks with Russia in March.
Moscow is also to hold negotiations with Cambodia - a new WTO member that requested talks in January - to resolve a dispute with its former Soviet ally Georgia, which withdrew from the bilateral WTO agreement after Moscow banned key Georgian exports in March 2006, and to sign a protocol with Guatemala.
