On October 14, 2004, President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China and President Valdimir V. Putin of the Russian Federation attended the signing ceremony of the Market Access Agreement on Russia's Accession to the World Trade Organization between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref signed the Agreement. On September 24, 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao, during his visit to Russia, and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov have jointly declared the conclusion of the negotiations between China and Russia on Russia's WTO entry. The signing of the bilateral Agreement makes China one of the first group of the World Trade Organization (WTO) members which have concluded WTO negotiations with Russia, demonstrating China's firm support for Russia's efforts to join the WTO.

Russia initiated application to join GATT in 1993 and entered negotiations on accession to the WTO in 1995. China started negotiations on WTO bilateral market access with Russia from June 2002. With the personal commitments of the leaders of both countries, after eight rounds of consultations, both parties, in the principle of mutual understanding and accommodation, reached common consensus on trade in goods and trade in services, completed negotiations in September 2004 and acknowledged the complete market economy status of each other. The signing of the market access agreement between the two countries will facilitate the access of Chinese products and services to the Russian market, further enhance the level of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and promote the overall process of Russia's WTO accession.