Russia, as never before, is close to joining the World Trade Organization

Washington and Moscow have until Sept. 30 to complete the harmonization of the remaining unresolved bilateral issues on Russia's accession to the WTO. According to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns, now Russia, as never before, is close to joining this organization. He noted that the U.S. will support Russia in the multilateral negotiations in Geneva, but added that as Russia is close to joining the organization, it is important to avoid protectionist measures.

Recall that the World Trade Organization is an international corporation created in 1995 to liberalize international trade and regulation of trade and political relations between member states. WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, concluded in 1947. Russia is trying to join the organization since 1995. During the negotiations, it is not just differences arose with the partner countries. The hardest thing was to agree with the U.S.. The main differences concerned the financial markets, supply of agricultural products in Russia and the protection of intellectual property rights. In November 2006, Russia and the U.S. signed a protocol on Russia's accession to the WTO. The only country which until recently opposed our entry into this organization, was Georgia. However, this country is not included in the working group on Russia's accession to the organization and can not unilaterally block Russia's accession to the WTO.

In June of this year, Russia and the United States at a summit in Washington set a goal to complete the work on outstanding bilateral issues until September 30. "We hope that this work (WTO), and we talked about this today and agreed to be completed by the end of September this year - had said after the talks, President Dmitry Medvedev. - I am pleased that we have set a time frame so as not to lose the positive foundation that we have gained in dealing with President Obama and does not dissolve the talk of the WTO endless discussions about the fate of a chicken and trimmings pigs. "I agree with the vision of President Medvedev of Russia as a new innovation, modernize the economy, and there are no serious obstacles to Russia's WTO accession", - said, in turn, the American president Barack Obama. He said after the talks that Moscow and Washington agreed to remove barriers to imports into Russia of U.S. products, particularly chicken. "We have agreed that they will overcome the barriers that stood in the way of imports into Russia of American products, particularly poultry meat, - Obama said. - This is the billions of dollars of revenue for the U.S. economy, and this important question. "

As stated in an interview to a Russian news agency Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, now Russia is very close to the entry into the WTO. "Russia has made good progress in this direction, Obama declared Russia's help in achieving this goal as one of its highest priorities in relations with Russia", - said U.S. Undersecretary of State. He stated that "the U.S. will support Russia in the multilateral negotiations in Geneva on its accession to the WTO. To the question, lest the process of Russia joining the WTO, the Russian government plans to raise import duties on foreign cars, Burns said, "joining the WTO, Russia will have to follow standards that are mandatory for other members of the Organization." "And of course, yet (as far as how close to Russia joining the WTO) it is important to refrain from protectionist measures", - said the diplomat.

The experts expressed mixed views on this farewell senior official. According to the deputy director of the Institute of CIS Vladimir Zharikhin, the Americans use protectionist measures, Japan is using harsh measures against the imported goods, but this does not prevent them from being in the WTO. "Most Americans concerned about the customs duties on imported aircraft, - said" NO "expert. - Flights - this is one of the few types of goods, which America still is not on the territory of China. If we remove those fees, the revival of our aviation industry will end. The very conditions of entry into this organization involve lengthy and difficult negotiations, so Mr. Zharikhin sees nothing surprising in the statement of a diplomat. Because once joined, and then life play by those rules. "So there is nothing personal, just pure trade", - says the analyst.

Senior Fellow, Institute for Trade Policy Alexei Portansky believes that the statement by Mr. Burns has a certain basis. "Just remember the recent statement by Vladimir Putin about the fact that we are still not WTO members, so we can still raise taxes on cars, - said" NO "Mr. Portansky. - Formally, this is so. But there is a tradition: the countries that joined the WTO, trying to stay within those rules, which have been agreed upon during negotiations. We have already gone beyond those boundaries, we have increased during the crisis of duty. Now we want to raise them. It should be noted that protectionism to anything good usually does not lead. In addition, our country has slowed the process of bringing legislation into line with the requirements of the organization. "New requirements we do not impose, but we sometimes do not fulfill their promises, - said Alexei Portansky. - For example, the adoption of important laws relating to the protection of intellectual property, we pulled two years. That is, the ball is on our side. Of course, soft partners does not happen, because they want to get the maximum. But in this case we were not so fast, as is required for the negotiations.