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Sat 05 May 2004Way paved for Russia to join world trade pactThe Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, presided over the signing yesterday of a long-awaited deal between the European Union and Russia that could speed Moscow's accession to the World Trade Organisation and persuade the Kremlin to back the Kyoto Protocol on combating climate change.In a high point for Ireland's Presidency of the EU, six years of often-heated discussion on Russia's membership of the WTO yielded a definitive protocol after a final, all-night session of wrangling over outstanding issues.