Many of the issues blocking Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation can be resolved at US-Russian talks this week, local media quoted a Russian trade official as saying on Sunday. Russia is one of the few major economies outside the 148-member global trading club and the lack of a deal with the United States on market access is seen as the main obstacle to WTO membership.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Russian Economy Minister German Gref are to meet in Zurich on Monday.
"We expect that the list of unresolved issues will be substantially reduced (at the Zurich talks)," Andrei Kushnirenko, deputy head of trade negotiations at Gref's ministry, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
There had been "positive progress" on the thorny issue of widespread copyright piracy in Russia, the official said.
Russia is hoping to complete its decade-long bid for membership of the WTO by the end of 2005. Trade talks with Washington have been held up by US complaints about copyright piracy, Moscow's dual pricing policy for energy sales and access to the Russian market for farm goods, financial services firms and aircraft makers.