Russia may complete talks with the U.S. on accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the end of October, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said during a news conference Tuesday, according to Prime-Tass.
Russia and the U.S. are currently negotiating chilled meat supplies to Russia, he said. Russia is inspecting the compliance of U.S. meat with health standards and has also threatened to start an anti-dumping probe into meat imports from the U.S.
Russia must also complete WTO talks with Moldova, Georgia and Costa Rica.
Earlier this month Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref also voiced hope Russia would complete its WTO talks with the U.S. by the end of October.
Russia applied to join the WTO in 1993, but the country only started making a concerted accession effort after President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.