Russia may reach an agreement on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the end of 2008, E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told Reuters late on Wednesday according to Prime-Tass.
"I certainly think we can secure agreement on Russia's accession by the end of the year," he said.
He said, however, that disputes over Russia's bans on meat imports from some E.U. suppliers and its increase in the timber export duty needed to be resolved.
Russia has signed WTO protocols with all WTO members that wished to hold bilateral talks, excluding Ukraine and Georgia. Russia also has to complete multilateral WTO talks.