day round of talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) began on Monday here. Russia, the only major economy outside the WTO, has been seeking membership in the organization since 1993. So far, Moscow has concluded bilateral talks with over 60 states, but still needs to complete discussions with two WTO members - Saudi Arabia and Georgia. “Our aim is to push the negotiations forward and to bring them to an end if possible,” Russia's chief WTO negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said. Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will join the negotiations on Tuesday. “Taking into consideration the friendly relations between our countries and the fact that Saudi Arabia has supported Russia in multilateral talks, we expect at least to bring our positions closer.” Last Monday, the working group on Russia's accession met at the WTO headquarters in Geneva and agreed to continue talks in mid-June. It will have an informal status due to the stance on Russia's membership taken by Georgia.
