Vietnam will become WTO's 150th member in January

GENEVA (Reuters) - Vietnam will join the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its 150th member on January 11, the Geneva-based trade body announced on Tuesday.

Vietnam's one-party legislature ratified on November 28 the communist-run country's entry to the WTO, clearing the final hurdle for the Asian state to become a member of the biggest capitalist free trade club.

The ratification was deposited with the WTO on December 12 and automatically becomes effective 30 days later.

"The Socialist Republic of Vietnam will become the 150th member of the WTO on 11 January, 2007," the WTO said in a statement.

The under-developed Southeast Asian country completed years of entry negotiations in October.

Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world after China, but per capita annual income in the country of 83 million people was just $720 in 2006.

The total GDP was estimated at $61 billion this year, but annual growth was estimated at 8.2 percent in 2006 and forecast at up to 8.5 percent next year.