Russia's Kudrin says WTO entry talks near end

By Gleb Bryanski

MOSCOW, March 25 (Reuters) - Russia is nearing the end of its bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) but still faces "difficult" talks with the European Union on timber export duties, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.

"The WTO accession talks are nearing conclusion. There is intense work going on. Officials from the United States and the European Union are constructively working with us," Kudrin said in a speech.

"We are holding difficult but constructive talks on timber duties (with the European Union)," Kudrin, who heads the government's WTO commission, told reporters later. Russia is the largest economy outside the WTO.

Kudrin said he would travel next week to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the three countries with which Russia has yet to conclude bilateral deals. Ex-Soviet neighbour Georgia is the third.

"Almost every week we undo a knot. The number of unsolved issues is diminishing," Kudrin said. He declined to predict a date for Russia's accession, but said: "We have a feeling that there is positive movement."

Kudrin said WTO accession would be the next major milestone in Russia's economic development after the 2006 liberalisation of capital movement.

Kudrin, Russia's economic policy tsar and said to be the leading authority on economic issues for outgoing President Vladimir Putin, met European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in Brussels last week.