WASHINGTON, Dec 24: US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Friday to complete trade talks needed for Russia to join the World Trade Organization “as soon as possible,” the White House said.

“The president called president Putin today to discuss the negotiations on Russia’s accession to the WTO,” US national security council spokesman Fred Jones told reporters on a conference call.

“They agreed that we have made substantial progress in our bilateral negotiations over the past year, that we are close to completing them, and that we need to continue to work hard to complete them as soon as possible,” he said.—AFP