Russia said to be joining WTO within a year

President Barack Obama’s senior economic adviser says Russia will join the World Trade Organization within the next 12 months.

Lawrence Summers, the director of Obama’s National Economic Council, said at a briefing Wednesday the objections of U.S ally Georgia, which fought a war with Russia in 2008, will not impact U.S. support for Russia’s entry into the organization.

Summers said that Russia’s quotas on U.S. meat imports is one of the outstanding issues that will need to be addressed.

After 17 years of negotiations, Russia is still by far the largest economy outside the WTO, which regulates trade between its 153 member states.
Source: AP