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Russia moves to clarify WTO stance
2009-08-12
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia confirmed Wednesday it was prepared to join the WTO as a single state but also firmed up plans to pursue membership negotiations in tight coordination with two other ex-Soviet republics. "Legally, we may enter separately," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's influential first deputy, Igor Shuvalov, told journalists as Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus announced creation of a joint group to coordinate their WTO talks. His comments appeared aimed at dispelling the confusion caused in June when Putin announced the three countries were halting their individual bids to join the world trade body and would instead seek entry as single "customs union." The United States quickly rejected the plan as "unworkable" and the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, said Moscow's apparent change of tack had caused considerable "perplexity" within the WTO. International puzzlement over Russia's stance was compounded the following month when President Dmitry Medvedev, in an apparent disagreement with Putin, said single-state WTO membership "seems to me simpler and more realistic." Medvedev's remarks, made at the G8 summit in Italy, fueled speculation of a serious policy difference at the top in Russia and the comments from a top Putin deputy appeared to cede primacy on the issue to Medvedev. Shuvalov's statement however incorporated ideas from both Putin's plan and Medvedev's traditional approach and it was unclear how far Wednesday's developments would go towards clarifying Moscow's position. Russia began negotiations for WTO membership in 1993. Those talks have hit numerous roadblocks over the years -- Moscow has argued they are all political -- and Russia today remains the only large economy outside the WTO. Though Shuvalov made clear that Russia was open to joining the WTO as a single state, he suggested this was merely a technicality and affirmed Moscow would work closely with Kazakhstan and Belarus on setting shared customs rules. "On certain issues we may enter with the customs union," he said in comments broadcast on state television. "The priority is that the accession of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan occur simultaneously and on equal terms," Shuvalov added. An aide to Shuvalov said the make-up of the new Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus WTO negotiating panel would be finalized by August 24 and the formal talks with the world body would start immediately afterterwards. The joint group will be headed by Maxim Medvedkov, a veteran trade negotiator who's overseen Russia's WTO talks, Shuvalov said. Alexei Portansky, head of the information office on Russia's accession to the WTO, an independent expert group, said the authorities were looking for a compromise between solo bids and bloc membership in the WTO. "They will look for a happy medium but it will be hard to find the happy medium here," he said, adding that Russia needed to conduct the talks on its own and fast. He estimated that Russia each year lost around 2.5 billion dollars as a result of not being in the WTO. A source close to the talks reiterated Wednesday there was no conflict within the government on the country's accession strategy. "There are no contradictions," he told AFP. "During the talks there have not been any passages regarding alleged existing discrepancies within the Russian leadership on the WTO entry," the source said.
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