Russia and the European Union (EU) are set to sign a bilateral agreement on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday, Russian and EU officialssaid Thursday.

Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref and visiting EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy made the remarks during their talks in Moscow, Russian news agencies reported.

"The six-year marathon that involved the work of hundreds of people is close to its end. Today we've received the government mandate to sign the relevant agreement with the European Union," Gref was quoted as saying.

Lamy echoed Gref by announcing his readiness to sign the final package on Friday.

He said the number of disagreements, covering 10 percent to 15 percent of the issues, has decreased to about 8 percent.

Russia remains the largest economy outside the WTO, partly because of its subsidies on energy and agriculture sectors.

The EU wants Russia to increase domestic oil and gas prices to the European average immediately as a condition for the country's entry into the WTO.

Itar-Tass quoted a source at the ministry of economic development and trade as saying that the average import duty for European companies will go down from 11.9 percent to 10.5 percent.

The EU member-nations are holding collective talks with Russia on its accession to the WTO, which currently has 147 members. Russian has already finalized such talks with some 10 countries.

Source: Xinhua