MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia...

Deputy Minister Alexander Yakovenko told the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta that full membership in the organization, where Russia currently has observer status, had long been in the works but had to be postponed because of the 1998 financial meltdown and its far-reaching negative impact on the economy. But now that it is back on its feet financially, Russia will be able to assume the obligations that come with FAO membership, he said.

Yakovenko said accession to the FAO would open new channels of international economic cooperation to Russia. "Full-fledged membership in the FAO will raise the efficiency of this country"s foreign economic cooperation in distributing agriculture, forestry, and fishery products, while also helping it reverse some of the negative trends in domestic agribusiness," he said.

The 187-member FAO was founded in 1987 to raise the efficiency of food production, processing, and distribution, to boost the development of rural areas, improve

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