U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday agreed to complete trade talks needed for Russia to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) "as soon as possible," the White House said. "The president called President Putin today to discuss the negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization," National Security Council spokesman Fred Jones told reporters by telephone. "They agreed that we have made substantial progress in our bilateral negotiations over the past year, that we are close to completing them, and that we need to continue to work hard to complete them as soon as possible," Jones said. Russian authorities hope to complete bilateral negotiations with WTO members-required for Russia to join the world body-this year in order to secure accession by 2006. Russia reached an agreement on WTO entry in 2004 with its main trading partner, the European Union. Moscow is close to an agreement with Tokyo, but the biggest challenge is getting approval from Washington. The United States wants Russia to open up its agricultural and financial-services markets, as well as lower taxes on imports of passenger airplanes. Washington also has insisted that Moscow ensure better protection of intellectual property rights.
