Russia and the United States failed to strike a bilateral deal today which woul allow Russia to join the World Trade Organisation but agreed to set a deadline to wrap up talks within three months.
Negotiators who have been discussing Russia's 13-year-old WTO bid virtually non-stop since Wednesday were unable to achieve a final breakthrough on a key "deliverable" ahead of the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg.
"There is more work to be done," President George W. Bush told journalists after meeting summit host Vladimir Putin. "The intention to achieve an agreement is there."
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab negotiated into the early hours on Saturday with Russian Economy Minister German Gref, but the two sides ran out of time.
"It's a complex process," Putin told a joint news conference with Bush. "We will continue to talk while standing up for our interests."
The talks made breakthroughs on financial services and defense of intellectual property rights, but foundered on the relatively minor issue of safety inspections on U.S. exports of frozen beef and pork, Gref said.