Russia could complete talks on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) within three to five months, Maxim Medvedkov, head of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry's trade negotiations department, said Friday according to Prime-Tass.
"We are very close to this goal," he said during a visit to Washington, ITAR-TASS reported. "However, it's said that the last step uphill is always difficult. Technically, we have the capability to complete these talks pretty fast - within three, four, or five months - if we do our best."
One of the issues that still remains in Russia's WTO talks is agriculture, Medvedkov said.
He also said that Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab would hold WTO talks Friday. Russia has already completed bilateral WTO talks with the U.S. and is currently holding negotiations with it as part of its multilateral WTO talks.
Medvedkov went on to say that Russia expected to complete bilateral WTO negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) within a week.