Russia may start entering into WTO in summer 2011 - Kudrin

Russia and its partners need only 'a few months' for settling technical problems, he said. "We would like to complete this job and begin the accession process in summer," he said.

Referring to estimates of the World Bank, Kudrin said, "The overall long-term effect of Russia's participation in the WTO will be [the annual economic growth of] over 14%."

He confirmed the Russian adherence to economic liberalization. "The WB thinks that Russia won't gain much from its broader presence on the international market. In the medium-term prospect our share will be less than 1%. However, investments will grow by over 11%," Kudrin said.

As for technical aspects of the accession, he said Russia was fully prepared to start the fulfillment of its agreements with the United States and Europe as soon as the formalities were complete. "There is no need for doing any extra work," Kudrin remarked.

A few more rounds of informal consultations are necessary to coordinate the Working Group report on Russia's entry into the WTO, Russian chief trade negotiator, deputy head of the Economic Development Ministry's trade negotiations department Maxim Medvedkov said on April 1 in comment on a week-long work done in Geneva.

The Swiss city hosted informal consultations of the Working Group, multilateral negotiations on agricultural matters and about 40 bilateral meetings.

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