Russia likely to join WTO by year-end

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

Moscow : Russia may join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of the year, the Kremlin said.

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Russia has been in membership talks with the 153-nation WTO for 17 years and remains the only major economy still outside the organisation.

President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday spoke over the phone with his American counterpart Barack Obama about Russia’s accession to the WTO.

“It was pleasantly admitted that the mutually initiated impulses contributed to significant progress during the talks,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

“In this regard it is stressed that solving the priority issue, Russia’s accession to the WTO by the end of the year, is viewed as rather real.”