Three Days to the WTO!
// Talks with the U.S. may end on July 14
The protocol on the admittance of Russia to the World Trade Organization is supposed to be signed with the United States on July 14, the day before the G8 summit begins. Talks are effectively wrapped up already and a formula for compromise has been found. The U.S. will abandon demands that foreign banks be allowed to open branches in Russia and that extraordinary efforts be taken against piracy. Russia will open its insurance market to the U.S. and reduce its $9.2-billion aid for domestic agriculture. But the final decision on the protocol is to be made by the countries' presidents, who will discuss more than just economics. The agreement with the U.S. is the last remaining impediment to Russia's joining the WTO.
Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref unexpectedly announced the progress in WTO talks after attending a session of the presidium of the United Russia Party, where he discussed the 2007 federal budget. A source in the Economics Ministry's trade negotiations department, which is heading Maxim Medvedkov, confirmed Gref's statement for Kommersant yesterday. U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns also stated yesterday that the negotiations were close to conclusion.
The clearly political nature of the compromise has met some opposition in the U.S. Sixteen organizations that represent the interests of American big business, including the Chamber of Commerce and Emergency Committee for American Trade, have written a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush opposing Russia's membership in the WTO on commercial grounds. The final conditions for concluding the agreement with the U.S. will be known only to the two presidents, of course.
WTO membership will increase Russia's prestige, but not make life easier for it. On July 9 World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz sent a proposal to the leaders of the G8 and the world's five largest countries, which include China and Brazil, to meet on July 17 in St. Petersburg to make a decision on completing the Doha Round of negotiations. If the G8 leaders agree to this, Russia may be forced to give up many of the compromises it won in previous negotiations.
Dmitry Butrin, Maxim Shishkin, Sergey Tamilin
All the Article in Russian as of July 11, 2006
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