GENEVA, Feb 5: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushschenko on Tuesday signed an agreement here that will enable Ukraine to join the WTO after nearly 15 years of often torturous negotiations.

The Ukrainian parliament now has six months to ratify the accession agreement.

The accord, signed with WTO head Pascal Lamy amid great pomp at a ceremony at WTO headquarters, leaves Ukraine’s neighbour and rival Russia as the only main economy still outside the global trade monitoring body.

Russia welcomed the accession, saying it hoped it would ease and clarify trade relations between the two former Soviet republics.

“We are very glad. The reaction is very positive,” said Yuri Afanasiev, senior consular head of the trade policy section of the Russian mission in Geneva.

“Last year the trade between our two countries increased by 30 percent. We believe it’s positive because our relation will be based on international regulated rules,” he told AFP.