Russia to negotiate new deal with EU after joining WTO -official -1

12:49|20/ 05/ 2007

KAZAN, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will start negotiations on a new
partnership deal with the European Union only after joining the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the Russian economics minister said Sunday.

"I hope that after entry into the WTO we’ll conclude a new treaty with
the EU, which will enable us to switch to the regime of free trade
zones within five to seven years," German Gref told a business forum
organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Russia is expecting to complete bilateral negotiations on its
accession to the world trade club within three weeks, and all
multilateral talks by the end of July.

Russia and the EU were set to begin talks on a new cooperation deal to
replace the current 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
expiring in December at the Russia-EU summit in Helsinki last
November, but the negotiations were vetoed by Poland, over Russia’s
ban on its meat exports, and Moscow’s refusal to sign the Energy
Charter.

Russia has been unwilling to ratify the charter, which was drawn up as
a mechanism of cooperation between Western and Eastern Europe on
energy issues and signed at The Hague in 1991, as the document would
force it to give foreign investors free access to the country’s oil
and gas deposits and export pipelines.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress