WASHINGTON, March 30 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - A senior U.S. trade official said Thursday that a bilateral deal regarding Russia's accession to the WTO was close to being finalized.
Robert Portman, the U.S. representative at Russia's World Trade Organization accession talks, said progress had been made at last week's bilateral talks, and that the remaining issues presented no new problems. He said other countries had solved similar problems ahead of WTO accession.
Russia has been holding bilateral talks with the U.S., Canada, Australia and Columbia since March 20 in Geneva as part of its WTO accession negotiations. Under WTO regulations, Russia must sign bilateral accession agreements with all members of the 58-nation WTO Working Party.
