German Gref: Russia will be accepted in the WTO in March 2007

Russia and the United States could not agree on the entry of the Russian Federation to the WTO, Maxim Medvedkov, head of the Russian delegation at the negotiations, told Interfax. "Neither today nor in the coming weeks the protocol will be signed," he said. Herman Gref said that the chances of joining the WTO of Russia are still high, the signing of the protocol with the United States may take place at the end of October, and joining the WTO in March 2007.

“Despite attempts to find interchanges on the remaining package of issues, it was not possible to achieve an agreement,” Medvedkov said. “It was decided to suspend negotiations tonight,” he said.

Medvedkov did not specify exactly what issues became a stumbling block at the negotiations, recalling that several points were included in the last “negotiation package”: agriculture, phytosanitary and veterinary control, aircraft equipment, and access to the financial services market.

Medvedkov said that Russia was negotiating with the United States under the package of obligations. "That is, they must be resolved either all issues as a whole, or agreements could not be reached. Since it was not possible to agree in the complex, the signing of the protocol is transferred," Medvedkov said.

He did not predict the deadlines for the completion of negotiations. "Both parties have recently talked about the deadlines a lot, there were many statements, so now I would not want to predict anything," said the head of the Russian negotiators. Now the parties will continue the negotiations "in a more calm environment", after the end of the G8 summit, Medvedkov said.

Russia will be accepted in the WTO in March 2007

The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, who headed the Russian team of negotiators, did not shut forecasts and stated that in spite of what Russia would be able to agree with the United States in October 2006 and join the WTO in March 2007.

“I still evaluate the chances of joining Russia to the WTO,” said Herman Gref on Saturday.

“As a date in the control list of the presidents, which is already drawn up, the end of October will be indicated as the date of signing the protocol from the United States and March 2007 - as the final entry of Russia to the WTO,” Gref said.

Meanwhile, at the joint press conference of the presidents of Russia and the United States, a number of statements were made regarding the negotiation process for Russia's accession to the WTO.

US President George Bush said negotiations with Russia will continue to join the WTO. “It is difficult to negotiate with us,” he admitted. “But I believe that we are rightly negotiating. We want to achieve such an agreement that would be adopted by Congress, we want Russia to join the WTO, the agreement was almost reached,” Bush added.

“We will continue to negotiate with Russia,” the US President assured journalists. "Vladimir Putin also assured me that the Russian side will negotiate," he added.

In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will continue negotiations on the problems of the WTO with the United States, "while defending its specific national interests." For Russia, the difficulties in negotiations on the WTO were not unexpected, we will work further, defending the interests of our developing economy, the Russian president said.

He noted that "good personal relations with George Bush help in work, but do not interfere with the defense of national interests in a particular field. Negotiations are of a specific counting character, expressed in millions and billions," he said.

The United States remain the only country with which Russia has not yet completed bilateral negotiations on the WTO. Earlier this week, officials both in Washington and in Moscow expressed hope that all the remaining controversial issues would be able to agree on either the summit in St. Petersburg or during this event.

On Wednesday, the American delegation, headed by the US trade representative, Susan Schwab, arrived in Moscow. The next day, the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Alexei Kudrin told reporters that the Russian Federation and the United States agreed on positions on one of the most difficult issues: access to the Russian financial services market. However, the remaining disagreements could not be removed, and on Friday the negotiators' teams moved to St. Petersburg.

Recall that a day earlier , Georgia reported that she was recalling her signature under the protocol on the completion of negotiations on Russia's entry into the WTO . The relevant letters were sent to Russia and the WTO, said the head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry Gela Grindiashvili and the Minister of Economic Development Irakli Chogovadze on Friday after the meeting with Prime Minister Zuraba Nogaidel. The main reason for the demarche, according to the Georgian side, is in the "discriminatory customs regime".

The Ministry of Economic Development reported that so far they did not receive any official messages from the Georgian side on this subject, however, Georgia’s statements were commented by the assistant to the president Sergey Prikhodko.

The review of Georgia of his signature under the protocol on the entry of the Russian Federation to the WTO is a demonstration of the saying “I want a word, I want - I take it back,” Prikhodko said.

According to the official, such actions demonstrate inconsistency of actions. Answering the question of journalists whether the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States plan to discuss relations between Russia and Georgia during an informal dinner, Prikhodko said: "If Mr. Bush of Georgian wine does not ask, then it is unlikely."