MOSCOW (November 03 2004): Russia plans to sign bilateral deals with fiveAsia-Pacific countries as part of its progress towards World TradeOrganisation (WTO) membership, Itar-Tass quoted Russia's top tradeofficial as saying on Tuesday. Recent talks with Thailand, Australia,Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore were likely to result in deals at anAsia-Pacific Economic Cupertino (APEC) heads of government meetingscheduled for November 18-21, Maxim Medvedkov told Tass.

There had been substantial movement in talks with Japan on access toRussian markets, he said.

"It's clear that we may already be talking about completing bilateralnegotiations at the beginning of next year," he said.

Russian ministers originally set a year-end target to complete bilateraltalks with all Russia's trading partners, envisaging actual membership ofthe trade body around the start of 2006.

Before it can join the WTO, Russia must strike bilateral deals onmembership terms with 60 trading partners. It has already signed a dealwith its top trading partner, the EU, but agreeing terms with the UnitedStates remains a major hurdle.

But they shelved that timetable last week after talks in Washington failedto bring a breakthrough, with US officials insisting that foreign banksshould be allowed to set up branches in Russia.