Russia should join the World Trade Organization by mid-summer next year, Maxim Medvedkov, the head of the Russian delegation at thе negotiations on accession to the WTO, told journalists, ITAR-TASS reported.
He said that at the WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled for December 15-17, the Russian Federation will be officially invited to become a member and will be given 220 days to carry out domestic ratification procedures. Earlier, answering the questions of the reporters, Medvedkov said that the State Duma would complete the ratification of the documents in early 2012.
The package of documents includes the report of the Working Groups which contained the whole list of rights and obligations that Russia will take over, a list of commitments on tariff concessions on goods and the level of agricultural support, the list of commitments on services, the protocol of accession, the legal authority processing arrangements, the draft decision of the General Council of WTO. The documents were adopted today at the closing session of the Working Groups.
