Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he hopes that Russia will complete negotiations on its accession to the World Trade Organization by yearend. "I also hope that our foreign trade partners will finally agree on the transfer to standards which are used in our country," he said. Russia has been in negotiations for WTO membership for 17 years and is the only major economy outside of the global trade body. "On the whole, if our partners want to trade on our market, they must observe today's standards. By the way, they [the standards] are very similar both in Russia and in many European countries," Medvedev added.
U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed last month the United States' support of Russia's bid to join the global trade body. "I reaffirm our strong commitment to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization," Obama said during a joint news conference with Medvedev in Washington. Medvedev earlier admitted that Russia still has problems with the protection of intellectual property rights, a major impediment to WTO accession, but says tackling this issue is a priority for the Russian government.
