The World Trade Organization Working Party on Russia’s accession approved Thursday the package spelling out Russia’s terms of entry to the organization and will now send its accession recommendation to a Ministerial Conference.
The Ministerial Conference, set for December 15-17, is expected to approve the documents and accept Russia as a WTO Member.
Russia will have until June 15, 2012 to ratify its accession package, the organization said.
If the bid is approved, the accession documents will need to be ratified by the Russian parliament, and 30 days after ratification, Russia will become a full-fledged member of the WTO.
Russia and Georgia on Wednesday signed a Swiss-brokered agreement that clears the way to Moscow’s accession to the WTO.
The deal provides in particular for the deployment of international observers to monitor the movement of goods across sections of the borders of the former Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia, the only major economy outside the WTO, has been trying to join the organization since 1993. The last remaining obstacle for its entry has been Georgia, which has refused to okay Russia's entry ever since the two countries fought a brief war in August 2008.
The agreement of all member states is necessary for accession to the WTO.
