MOSCOW,  Russia still hopes to complete negotiations on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) by December, Maxim Medvedkov, director of the Trade Negotiations Department of Russia’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry, said Thursday at a meeting of the Mercury business club.

Medvedkov said that it is better to join the WTO as soon as possible, because several other countries, including Ukraine, may join the WTO in 2006, which will result in stricter requirements for Russia.

According to Medvedkov, if Russia joins the WTO, Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will increase an additional 0.5% annually.

Medvedkov also said that import duties on the most important products, especially agricultural products, will not be reduced if Russia joins the WTO.

Russia applied to join the WTO in 1993, but the country only started making a concerted effort to fulfill the conditions for membership when President Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999. The earliest possible date for membership is January 2006, if Russia gets approval at the WTO conference in Hong Kong in December.