The EU says it will ask Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to clarify his country's efforts to join the World Trade Organization at an EU-Russia summit in Stockholm on Wednesday.Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU presidency, says the 27-nation bloc needs to know whether Russia is still interested in joining the 153-nation world trade body.
Bildt said Tuesday at EU foreign ministers talks that the trade issue is "a difficulty" in EU-Russia ties.
He says closer economic ties are "a key part" of the bilateral relations.
Russia said in October that it and two ex-Soviet neighbors, Belarus and Kazakhstan, would cease to join the WTO as a joint customs union and would instead seek to join separately.
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