09:21. Feb.13
MOSCOW Feb 13. /PRIME-TASS/ Russia and the U.S. have made progress in bilateral talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists February 11.
On February 11-12 Russia hosted a meeting of the finance ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries.

"We drafted proposals, which were laid out on the negation table," Kudrin said, adding that "the parties have taken time out to analyze the proposals."

Russia and the U.S. managed to make their positions closer on Russia's WTO accession during the G8 finance ministers meeting on Saturday, Kudrin said.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said at his meeting with U.S. Treasury Sectary John Snow on February 11 that he hopes talks on Russia's WTO accession will finish soon. "Conditions for the development of trade and economic relations, in particular investments, have been improved," Putin said.

The U.S. is inclined to sign the protocol as soon as possible, Snow said.

Among the issues unsettled with the U.S. is access of international financial institutions to the Russian market, Kudrin said. The U.S. wants foreign banks to be able to open their subsidiaries in Russia, while Russia insists that foreign banks should establish affiliates in Russia, which are subject to the control of the Central Bank of Russia.

The U.S. is the last largest trade partner with whom Russia still has to complete negotiations with on its accession to the WTO.

Besides the U.S., Russia has to complete negotiations on its accession to the WTO with Australia and Colombia.

Russia applied to join the WTO in 1993, but the country only started making a concerted effort to fulfill the conditions for membership when Putin came to power in 2000.

Officials said earlier that Russia is expected to join the WTO in 2006-2007.