Russia's hopes of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2011 has boosted significantly after the European Union (EU) backed Russia's bid to join the trade bloc, PressTV reported.
Hours before a meeting at a European Union-Russia summit in Brussels on Tuesday, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Russian Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiulina inked a memorandum of understanding, backing Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the deal after the two sides agreed to resolve their outstanding trade issues, adding that Russia will be admitted to the World Trade Organization next year.
"We believe this is a milestone, because Russia becoming a WTO member in 2011 is now a very realistic perspective," Barroso stated.
"We believe WTO accession will strengthen trade and investment rules in Russia itself and will therefore be beneficial to Russian businesses and its citizens and also for trade and investment with the European Union," he noted.
Moscow has been negotiating WTO entry for 17 years, with the issue of timber export duties regarded as one of the stumbling blocks in negotiations with the EU.
In Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the decision on Tuesday and sketched out his views on how the country would undertake the procedural tasks to join the trade organization in 2011.
"We will join the WTO separately, but as part of the Customs Union [with Belarus and Kazakhstan]. Everyone should at last understand this... There can be many unions but we've got only one WTO," RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying.
Earlier on Tuesday, Barroso urged Russian president to make good on commitments to reduce timber export duties before the country joins the trade bloc.
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