Last November, Russia secured a hard-fought bilateral agreement with the United States, removing the last major obstacle to its joining the world's largest trade body.
Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia said Wednesday they are resuming admission talks at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. The South Caucasus nation, which had previously signed a bilateral WTO deal with Russia, moved to renegotiate its terms and threatened to block the country's 13-year bid after Moscow banned key Georgian exports last March. The talks stalled in the summer.
Russia signed a WTO deal with Moldova, another Western-leaning ex-Soviet nation that is already a member of the global trade body, late last year after lifting a ban on Moldovan wine and meat exports.
Russia has yet to sign protocols on the completion of bilateral talks on its WTO accession with Guatemala.
The Economic Development and Trade Ministry expects to complete multilateral talks on the country's admission to the WTO by the middle of 2007.
