At the 37th G8 summit that was held from May 26 to May 27 in the commune of Deauville, the leaders of the Group of 8 indicated that they will continue to cooperate in helping Russia accede to the World Trade Organization. The declaration endorsed by the leaders of the countries comprising the G8 hailed the significant progress that Russia has achieved on its way to complete its accession to the WTO and confirmed the parties’ commitment to cooperate with Russia in order to complete the process in 2011.

At the time of the face-to-face meeting between Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev and his American counterpart Barack Obama, the two leaders decided to accelerate negotiations on WTO accession. Both President Medvedev and the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have said that Russia will join the WTO in 2011.  

The path for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, on which Russian state officials set out 15 years ago, has been quite lengthy indeed. Russia is still the largest economy not a member of the international commercial organization. Among the most significant obstacles to Russia’s accession to the WTO today is the position of Georgia that now demands access to customs checkpoints in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The two republics seceded from Georgia in early 1990s and formally proclaimed their independence. Russia recognized the sovereignty of the breakaway region following the eruption of hostilities two years ago.