KIEV, Nov. 21 – The Ukrainian government on Wednesday approved four minor regulatory issues aimed at clearing the way for the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization next month, a senior official said.

The move comes a week after Ukraine has signed a crucial bilateral trade agreement with Kyrgyzstan, once described by officials as the biggest obstacle on the way to the WTO, ahead of a final round of talks in Geneva next month.

“Today we approved four decisions closing outstanding regulatory issues,” Mykola Azarov, first deputy prime minister and finance minister, said Wednesday. “In other words, our team will have a complete set of papers showing we have fulfilled all conditions for the WTO accession.”

Ukraine is expected to send the team to Geneva in early December for the final round of talks, and expects to get invited to a Dec. 19 meeting of the WTO for the formal accession.

“In fact, all preconditions have been fulfilled,” Oleksandr Shlapak, the first deputy chief of staff at the office of President Viktor Yushchenko, said Wednesday. “I hope that we will become participants of the meeting on Dec. 19 to get the invitation on the WTO accession.”

Azarov said: “I hope that Ukraine will be a WTO member from the next year.”

Ukraine was deadlocked for years in talks with Kyrgyzstan over a disputed $27.3 million debt that Bishkek claims has been owned by Ukraine since the break up of the former Soviet Union.

Ukraine has been refusing to accept it as the state debt amid fears this would trigger an avalanche of similar claims by other countries, such as Belarus and Russia.

But the breakthrough in the talks with Bishkek came last week after Ukraine had suggested sending $27.3 million ‘humanitarian aid’ to Kyrgyzstan.

Joining the WTO is Yushchenko’s key economic policy and trade initiative, and is expected to boost Ukraine’s exports to the rest of the world.

Ukraine’s accession to the WTO will also open way for a free trade agreement with the European Union, further strengthening trade ties between the two.

The growing exports will boost Ukraine’s economy and accelerate the pace of its economic growth by two percentage points annually, the government said.

Ukraine’s economy expanded 7.3% on the year in January through October, according to the State Statistics Committee, suggesting the economy was on track to exceed the government’s 2007 growth forecast of 6.5%. The government forecast growth will reach 7.2% on the year in 2008.(tl/ez)