Russia, USA to hold talks on Russia's entry to WTO

Russia and the United States are expected to hold bilateral talks on the former's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said Maxim Medvedkov, Russia's chief negotiator on WTO accession.

The American delegation will be led by Dorothy Dwoskin, the Assistant US Trade Representative for the WTO.

On Wednesday, Russia is expected to hold bilateral talks on WTO accession with Norway.

Russia and the European Union will discuss this matter in May, Mr Medvedkov told reporters on Friday after a meeting of the working group on state regulation and foreign economic issues.

Russia and the EU finished a regular round of talks on Russia's entry to the organisation in Moscow yesterday. The parties settled a considerable part of their differences.

The parties did not reach an agreement on Russian import duties on a series of goods, including cars, aircraft and agricultural produce, and on terms and conditions of the access to the Russian market of foreign insurance companies and banks.

Besides, the EU insists that Russia should narrow the gap between its domestic and export natural gas prices. There is a series of other energy-related issues that remain to be settled between the parties.