Russia Braces for Speeding up Talks on Joining WTO

Moscow and the international working group on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) have decided to quicken their negotiation process for an early solution, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Maxim Medvedkov announced Sunday.

Russia will hold full-scale talks with the European Union, the United States, Canada and Norway before May, Medvedkov told a news briefing in Moscow after returning from a regular round of talks on Russia's joining WTO in Geneva.

Senior EU and WTO officials, in particular WTO Director General Mike Moore, are expected to visit Moscow on March 30 for talks with senior Russian officials on the most sensitive issues in the talks.

The working group will reconvene in June to analyze the outcome and agree on a long-term schedule for its work on Russia's WTO entry, he said.

"The overriding goal is to start in June the wording of the so-called 'working group report' and a protocol on joining that will define the conditions for Russia's membership," Medvedkov stressed.

Meanwhile, he called for stepping up the legislation for boosting Russia's accession to the WTO.

A package of laws on a customs code, protective measures in foreign trade, intellectual property and state subsidies could be reviewed by the government next week, he said.

At the talks with the working group in Geneva, the Russian side put forward proposals on maximum level of state support to the services market and agricultural producers.

"For the first time during six years' talks, Russian proposals on agriculture met no sharp objections of the trade partners," Medvedkov noted.

Russia is ready to agree on the ceiling of subsidies for agricultural purposes at US$16.2 billions a year, according to Medvedkov. He said that "The WTO considered this figure with interest."

On the service markets and telecommunication market access, he said the Western countries are not satisfied with the biggest Russian communication company Rostelecom's monopoly, while Russia argues that the monopoly should be retained in 10 years.

"We cannot move further at the tariff talks until we understand what additional obligations could be proposed for Russia's admission to WTO," Medvedkov said.






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