Russia would not secure membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006 and was unlikely to do so next year, the country's chief negotiator with the world trade body said yesterday.

 

"Russia's joining the WTO won't take place this year. Probably, joining the WTO won't take place next year," Maxim Medvedkov was quoted by Interfax News Agency as saying.

 

Medvedkov made the remarks at a business conference in the Siberian city of Tyumen.

 

"We are not ordered to finish talks by a certain date. That is why one cannot say with certainty that we will become a WTO member in mid-2007. We have stated this many times," he said.

 

"So, we have time to prepare ourselves for membership in the WTO and weigh all the pluses and minuses we'll get," he added.

 

The Russian delegation said earlier that Russia could join the WTO by the summer of 2007 and wind up all entry talks by the end of 2006.

 

Russia so far has not completed its WTO entry talks with the US, Costa Rica, Georgia and Moldova.

 

Russia is the only major world economy that remains outside the 149-member WTO.

 

Russian agencies reported that the biggest obstacle to Russia's membership was its failure to reach a bilateral agreement with the US.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2006)