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Russia, U.S. continue WTO accession talks -Kremlin aide

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Russia and the United States are continuing talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, a Russian presidential spokesman said Saturday.
STRELNA, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the United States are continuing talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, a Russian presidential spokesman said Saturday.

The U.S. remains the only country out of the 58-member Working Party on Russia's accession with which Moscow has yet to sign a bilateral protocol. The issue of access to Russia's financial services market has been the main stumbling block in Russia's bilateral negotiations with the U.S. on the issue.

Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president's first deputy press secretary, said: "Russian-U.S. negotiations will continue."

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush are currently holding talks near St. Petersburg in advance of the Group of Eight summit. Along with other key bilateral issues, the leaders are likely to touch on the WTO problem.

During negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday, Russia made a concession and agreed to let U.S. insurance companies enter its market, after lengthy debates.

The U.S. had previously insisted that its banks be granted permission to open branches in Russia, but Moscow rejected the idea, saying the Russian banking system was too weak to withstand foreign competition.

"We have agreed to the opening of foreign insurance companies' branches, but have insisted that no branches of foreign banks will be opened in Russia," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday.

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