Russia could join the World Trade Organization even without Georgia's consent, Moscow's top negotiator said on Thursday.
"It is not being ruled out that we could join the WTO, even if one of the member states disagrees," Maxim Medvedkov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.
Tbilisi withdrew its signature from a bilateral WTO agreement with Moscow shortly after a diplomatic row broke out between the two former Soviet republics almost a year ago.
The South Caucasus republic says it will cease to block Russia's WTO bid only after Moscow honors its 2004 commitment to close down its border checkpoints with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Medvedkov said negotiations with Georgia had reached a technical level making it possible to brush aside political emotions, adding that the issue of check points on Russia's border with Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be clarified in December.
Russia has been seeking WTO membership since the early 1990s. It now needs to conclude bilateral talks with Georgia and Saudi Arabia, and must conclude multilateral discussions within the WTO working party of 50 nations.
Russia's economics ministry earlier said Russia could complete all WTO negotiations by the end of this year or beginning of next year to join the world trade club in June-July 2008.
Source: Xinhua
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