Russia's accession to WTO will enhance business climate

Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) would enhance its investment climate and attractiveness for foreign businesses, said head of Russian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Union, Alexander Shokhin, on Friday.

The accession would also "lower bureaucratic barriers and eliminate infrastructure shortcomings," said Shokhin as quoted by news agencies.

Also on Friday, head of Russian delegation to WTO talks, Maxim Medvedkov, said Russia and the European Union (EU) would hold talks over the issue within the next few weeks.

"We would like to complete this work before the (Russia-EU) summit and sort out all remaining bilateral issues linked to the WTO," he said.

Earlier this week, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said that export duties on timber were the main obstacle on the way of Russia's accession to the WTO, and Russia would be able to join the WTO in late 2011 at the earliest.

Russia has already reached agreements regarding its WTO accession with the United States.
(Source:xinhua)