"The signing of the protocol is expected tomorrow," German Gref, who is in Hanoi as part of the Russian delegation at the 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, told journalists.
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, Maksim Medvedkov, said Friday.
"To date Russia has ended all negotiations with WTO nations on access to commodity markets," Medvedkov said. "Now multilateral negotiations still remain, and we plan to finish those by next summer."
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the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Moldova, and renegotiate its entry with Georgia, which has withdrawn its signature.