Russian, U.S. finance ministers discuss ministerial G8 meeting, Russia’s WTO accession

Moscow, February 10. Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow have discussed the ministerial G8 meeting and Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization at the Russian Finance Ministry, the ministry said on Friday.

Apart from Russia and the United States, the G8 includes Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The Russian-U.S. ministerial meeting was the first in a series of traditionally held bilateral conferences between the country that holds the G8 rotating chair – Russia in 2006 - and other members of this exclusive group of industrialized countries.

Kudrin is also set to meet his Brazilian counterpart Antonio Palocci and Chinese deputy finance minister Lee Young later today. A bilateral meeting with the newly-appointed finance minister of Canada Jim Flaherty is also in the pipeline.