ST. PETERSBURG -- U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk signaled on Friday that he thought Russia's chances of joining the WTO in the coming year were better than even, despite Washington's concerns over recent restrictions on pork imports.

"We continue to hold out hope that Russia will move as quickly as possible to lift the ban," Kirk said at a news conference, following talks with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina.

Russia's 16-year push for accession to the World Trade Organization took center stage at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum after European Union Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said Thursday that she and Nabiullina "have agreed WTO accession should be completed before the end of the year."

On a trip to Finland earlier in the week, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed to reopen talks on Moscow's plan to hike tariffs on timber exports, which has been widely criticized in Helsinki and Brussels as a way to protect Russia's wood-processing industry.

But the bans on pork from Mexico, Britain and several U.S. states -- which the Federal Consumer Protection Service says is intended to protect against the spread of the A/H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu -- remain a sticking point. The World Health Organization said in May that there was "no evidence that the virus is transmitted by food" and "no justification ... for the imposition of trade measures on the importation of pigs or their products."

A deputy head of the consumer protection service said at the time that the virus was a new strain and that further research was needed. Officials in Russia have also complained that they are not being kept adequately informed on U.S. and Mexican efforts to combat the flu.

The pork dispute, while causing friction at a diplomatic level, has also re-energized the WTO's efforts to include Moscow, which remains the last major economy outside the free-trade body.

"[This is] one of the reasons that the United States would like to see Russia become a full functioning participant of the WTO," Kirk said later Friday at a panel discussion on protectionism. "It gives you some place to find resolution for these kinds of issues."

Alejandro Jara, deputy director-general of the WTO, said Russia had to "do its homework" to demonstrate that it would comply with the body's rules. "We're not keeping them out, they have to negotiate their way in," he said.

Kirk told the panel, which included Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, that the United States would "work diligently" with him and Shuvalov to make sure that Russia can join, although he declined to say whether he thought that it could happen by the end of 2009.

Kudrin and Maxim Medvedkov, Russia's so-called WTO sherpa, both joked about how long it had taken Moscow to win entry.

"Going through these talks is like going through purgatory and not even knowing you'll succeed," Kudrin said.

When asked why Russia did not want to join the WTO, Medvedkov bristled, "It's a good question, why they don't let us in." For a body that prides itself on its rules, he said, the 153-member WTO had a very disorderly system for joining.

"Once we agree with No. 153, No. 1 can come back to the table," he said.

But Medvedkov also reiterated his desire to join, saying the number of protectionist measures against Russia was up fivefold in the last nine months and that "we definitely want to be contributing" to trade stability.

The 14-member panel, moderated by New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman, focused on worries that the global economic crisis could lead to new and subtler forms of protectionism, including through sanitary measures.

But when Friedman opened the floor to questions from the audience, the discussion turned closer to home.

Responding to a question from a Canadian businessman about the proper use of health measures in trade, Kudrin said Moscow was working to make its "pretty strongly justified" decisions more transparent and predictable.

"In the course of June, we'll have a new system," he said.

The final question was a poll, following up on Nabiullina's comment Thursday that she didn't want to celebrate "another anniversary" of the trade talks. Who thought that Russia had a better-than-even chance of WTO entry by June 2010?

About one-third of the panelists, including Kirk, raised their hands, while Kudrin, sitting beside him and listening to the question in translation, did not budge.

Kirk leaned in and gave a friendly nudge to Kudrin, who immediately threw up his arm, drawing laughter and applause from the audience. "I hope that's on film," Friedman said, dismissing the panel.