The United States is actively helping Russia enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2011, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said during a roundtable discussion with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
Russia is the only major economy still outside the WTO. The European Union gave its backing to the country's entry bid in December after Russia agreed to trim timber export duties and rail freight tariffs.
"The main thing is that this year we are working on the project of Russia's entering the World Trade Organization," Shuvalov said adding that the United States is actively helping Russia in this process.
Russia's WTO bid will top the agenda for meetings between Russia's leadership and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden this week.
Georgia says it will not allow Russia to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the expense of its own interests, Vice Parliamentary Speaker Georgi Tsereteli said on Wednesday, making a reference to Russia's control over customs on the border of the former Georgian republics of North Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Georgia claims as its own territory.
SKOLKOVO, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
