The director of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy announced that it would be impossible for Ukraine to join the organization by the end of the year. He said there were several countries trying to enter the WTO this year and Ukraine still has to meet a few requirements to be eligible. The WTO director said he thought Ukraine would enter in the spring of 2006. Concorde Capital: There seems to be some confusion in the government surrounding Ukraine’s entrance in the WTO. At the end of the last parliamentary session the government was racing to pass their package of WTO laws, however, since firing the cabinet, the government has recalled the remaining WTO laws that need to passed in order to make Ukraine eligible for entry. Following his visit to Moscow, the new head of the National Security and Defence Council Anatoly Kinakh said that Ukraine and Russia were going to try to join the WTO together. Then last week, the President said that Ukraine would join the WTO in December. It seems unlikely Ukraine would want to join the WTO together with Russia, as Russia has a lot more to do in order to be eligible to enter. In addition, Ukraine would lose the bargaining leverage it would have over Russia if it were to join the WTO first.