The United States and Russia have brought their positions closer on financial services in talks over Russia's WTO accession bid, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Saturday.

Snow was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that he and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin discussed the issue and they have come closer to reaching an agreement.

The U.S. treasury secretary was in Moscow for a finance ministers' meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations.

He assured Putin that the United States is intent on wrapping up talks with Russia as soon as possible but a number of problems, including liability issues and access to financial markets, have yet to be solved.

Putin said: "I very much hope that our negotiators will manage to complete the negotiating process intended to bring Russia into the WTO. I mean, it would create better conditions for the development of trade and business ties between our countries, including in the investment sphere."

Russia has yet to complete negotiations with the United States and Colombia on its accession to the WTO. One of the sticking points in talks with the United States is that Russia does not want foreign banks to open directly owned branches in Russia.

Source: Xinhua