Talks for Russia joining to WTO to end in few months - Kudrin

Talks for Russia joining to WTO to end in few months - Kudrin

12.04.2008, 10.22

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Itar-Tass) -- Bilateral and multilateral talks for joining of Russia to the World Trade Organisation will be completed in a few months, Russian Vice-Premier and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told a press conference in Washington on Friday.

Kudrin participated in the meeting of the finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of Seven countries and Russia. He also had a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

The talks with the American representative on the WTO determined the present points of the negotiations and the tasks to be carried out in the near future. The "Road Map" signed in Davos and agreed on with the European Union and with Schwab is being followed, may be slower, but the work on all the main points is under way, and there is a hope that the talks will be completed in the next few months, Kudrin said, without elaborating on what points were under discussion in the talks.

Kudrin also expressed the hope that the bilateral protocol on completion of the talks with the United Arab Emirates on joining of Russia to the WTO would be signed in a week. The process of negotiations with Saudi Arabia is under way.