KIEV, April 18 (RIA Novosti, Olga Bernatskaya) - Russia does not intend to make concessions to speed up its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Russian official in charge of the talks said Tuesday.
"We want neither accelerate nor slow down [the negotiating process], since any acceleration is linked with certain concessions." Russia's chief negotiator at the WTO accession talks Maxim Medvedkov told a roundtable in the Ukrainian capital.
Under WTO regulations, Russia must sign bilateral accession agreements with all members of the 58-nation WTO Working Party. Moscow initially planned to do so last year but it is still holding talks with the U.S., Canada, Australia and Colombia. Negotiations with Washington are most problematic.
The main issue is American demands that it allow foreign banks to open branches in the country. Russian legislation currently prohibits foreign banks from opening branches in the country, although they may set up subsidiaries.
Medvedkov said Russia planned to finalize a bilateral deal with the United States in several months.
"Some 10-15 issues still remain unsettled within the talks' multilateral framework. Russia hopes to complete all bilateral talks on WTO accession by the end of 2006," he said.
