Russia has agreed all the terms to join the World Trade Organization, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
“Now I can say all the issues related to Russia’s bid to join the WTO have been settled, the issues related to the standards and the regulations of the WTO,” Lavrov said.
Georgia’s opposition to Moscow’s WTO accession is not an obstacle, he said. Moscow supports the so-called Swiss offer to reach a bilateral agreement between Russia and Georgia. “We have proposed several options to resolve the issue and stay within WTO statutes.”
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Slepnev has said that Russia expected to join the WTO in December 2011. The EU and World Bank hope Russia joins the WTO at a ministry meeting on December 15-17 in Geneva.
Russia has been in membership talks with the 153-nation WTO for 17 years and remains the only major economy still outside the organization.