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#16 - JRL 2006-259 - JRL Home
Update: Russia completes all bilateral WTO talks - top negotiator

COLOMBO, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has completed all bilateral talks on joining the World Trade Organization and will finish multilateral negotiations by next summer, the country's chief negotiator said Friday.

To join the WTO, Russia must sign bilateral protocols with the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Moldova, and renegotiate its entry with Georgia, which has withdrawn its signature.

"To date Russia has ended all negotiations with WTO nations on access to commodity markets," Maksim Medvedkov said. "Now multilateral negotiations still remain, and we plan to finish those by next summer."

The economics ministry said Russia and Sri Lanka signed a bilateral protocol on Russia's accession to the global trade body earlier Friday.

A week ago Russia, the largest economy outside the 150-nation group, completed drawn-out and difficult bilateral talks with the United States. The presidents of the two countries are expected to sign the deal on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam November 19.

Medvedkov also bilateral protocols with Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador had not been signed protocols for technical reasons.

Georgia and Moldova, which have tense relations with Russia, "have not entered tariff negotiations because they have a free trade zone with Russia," Medvedkov said. Tariff negotiations are considered to be the most difficult part in the talks.

Georgia withdrew its signature from a protocol on Russia's WTO accession bid in July, demanding that Russia change its "discriminatory" customs regime on Georgian exports. Moscow said the move was more a matter of politics than economics.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi hit a new low in a tit-for-tat conflict following a spying row in late September.

Moldova is concerned over Russia's ban on its wine and agricultural exports, and the value-added tax it pays for Russian natural gas.

When asked whether Russia would have to discuss its WTO entry with the organization's new member, Vietnam, Russia's top trade negotiator said the Asian nation had not formally joined the WTO yet and was therefore not entitled to such negotiations.