Russia reached an agreement with Georgia on a bilateral deal late Wednesday night that paves the way for its much-anticipated entry into the World Trade Organization, Reuters reported.
"We are happy that Georgia supported the draft agreement and that finally an agreement has been reached," said Maxim Medvedkov, Russia's top negotiator in accession talks, Reuters reported.
Russian entry, which now looks all but certain to take place by the end of the year, would come after 18 years of negotiations and represent the biggest step in world trade liberalization since China joined a decade ago. Russia, the largest economy outside the WTO, has an economic output of $1.9 trillion, or about 2.8 percent of the world economy.
After Wednesday's agreement, the next step on the path to membership will be a previously scheduled meeting of the Working Party on Russia's Accession, chaired by Stefan Johannesson, on Nov. 10 and 11. The group intends to complete its work and forward recommendations to a ministerial conference due Dec. 15-17 for making a final decision about approval of Russia's entry.
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