Brussels, 29/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - Following two days of talks, on Monday and Tuesday, between Commission experts led by Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Greff and his officials (see EUROPE 9395), both sides agreed to increase efforts to resolve as many as possible of the remaining stumbling blocks to their bilateral trade relations before the Samara summit on 16-17 June, the Russian Ministry, relayed by the Itar-Tass press agency, announced on Wednesday. Of the points of contention, “none are serious enough to keep Russia out” of the WTO, Mr Mandelson said on Tuesday, after travelling to Moscow to discuss, in particular, the sticking points which were preventing the EU from formally endorsing Russia's accession to the WTO. While he was rather conciliatory in minimising the importance of the Russian ban on the export of Polish meat in discussions on Russia's WTO accession, Mr Mandelson did say the issue was “the kind of trade dispute we could do without”. When asked by the Russian media on Wednesday about Mr Mandelson's remarks, Mr Greff stressed that the Russian ban must “not be linked to the progress of negotiations on our accession to the WTO”. “This issue was in no way related to the WTO in our discussions. And I hope that in the future, too, such issues will not be linked one to the other. The fewer links there are, the better progress we will make,” he added, quoted by the Ria-Novosti agency. Mr Greff also indicated that the “arrangements and dates for the resumption of imports will be made known as soon as Warsaw responds to the questions that were put to it by Russian health services”. “Now the ball is in the EU's court,” he added, pointing out that this issue had not been the subject of discussion “since it is a matter for the bodies which ensure the quality of agricultural products”. (eh)