Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Greetings from the WTO, Wish We Were There
Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref officially announced yesterday that the timeline for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization has been moved back from the end of this year to the beginning of next. The minister hopes to complete the final round of bilateral talks with Cambodia and Vietnam, begun last week, before the end of next month, and to complete multilateral talks by the end of June.
Russia has completed negotiations with 58 WTO members. Gref, speaking at a congress on Russia and the WTO in Moscow, said that talks with Vietnam were nearly completed, but Cambodia had advanced “unacceptable” demands – the writing off of the country's $1.5-billion debt to Russia. Gref said that multilateral talks with the European Union were “in the active stage” and could be completed within several months.
Maxim Medvedkov, head of the Russian negotiating delegation, said that another round of bilateral talks may be necessary with Ukraine and Georgia. Negotiations with Georgia were to take place in February, but the Georgians were unprepared. “Technical consultations” are now underway. Ukraine may become a WTO member in the summer of this year. Medvedkov said that it would be to Russia's advantage if Ukraine functioned under WTO rules. A source close to the negotiations told Kommersant that Russia's biggest obstacle to WTO membership is not Cambodia or Georgia, but the United States' political indecisiveness over Russia's admission.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 10, 2007
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