G8 pledges support for completion of Russia’s accession to WTO

IDADI YA WATU WALIOSOMA HABARI HII:

In the final declaration of the G8 summit in Deauville, the leaders have confirmed their commitment to help Russia join the WTO by the end of the year.

“Russia’s G8 partners hail the significant progress which Russia has achieved on its way to complete its accession to the WTO and confirm their commitment to actively cooperate with Russia in order to complete the process in 2011,”the document says. 

On Thursday, president Dmitry Medvedev told journalists that they agreed with US president Barack Obama  decision to step up talks on the issue. 

“I hope we will be able to finalize the process, bring it into the final phase, but further stimulus is required,” he said.

In his turn, Obama added that both Russian and American negotiators are doing their best to accelerate the process of Russia’s joining the World Trade Organization, specifically pointing out the benefits it will bring to both Russian and the global economy. 

“We think that Russia's accession to the WTO will be good for the Russian economy, will be good for the U.S. economy, will be good for the world economy, and we are confident that we can get this done," Obama said. “It will be a key building block in expanding trade and commerce.”

Middle East settlement

The G8 leaders have also supported president Obama’s position on one of the central issues facing the Middle East which he announced last week. He had said that a two-state solution should be based on the 1967 borders.

“We express unanimous support for president Barack Obama’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian settlement which he announced on May 19, 2011,” the declaration reads. 

The document also stresses the need to resume peace talks, which it says are the only way to find a solution to the problem. 

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