RUSSIA FACES CONTINUED CHALLENGES TO WTO ACCESSION

RUSSIA FACES CONTINUED CHALLENGES TO WTO ACCESSION

Russia's 14-year quest for membership in the WTO continues to face roadblocks, but trade officials in Moscow are optimistic that an official accession package can be finalised in the next six months.
Russia's entry into the global trade body has been repeatedly blocked by disputes with the EU and the US over a number of issues, including intellectual property, trade in energy, and a general chill in relations following the assassination in London last year of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko (see BRIDGES Weekly, 29 November 2006).
The country's food health regulations, and resulting bans on some imports from Poland, Thailand, and the US, have also been a source of friction in accession negotiations. So have Moscow's agricultural subsidies, which amounted to $4 billion in 2006 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 22 November 2006).
A more recent challenge has come from neighbouring Georgia, which has demanded that Russia lift its import ban on Georgian wines and mineral water and end its unauthorised trade with Georgia's breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia (see BRIDGES Weekly, 25 October 2006).
According to WTO accession rules, any new member of the global trade body must negotiate market access agreements with all countries that request one. To date, Moscow has arrived at deals with 50 WTO Members, including both the EU and the US. Only Russia's agreement with Saudi Arabia has yet to be finalised.
Maxim Medvedkov, Moscow's lead negotiator on WTO accession, said Thursday that he hopes that Russia will be able to "complete negotiations by the end of this year."
Russia is currently the world's only major economy that does not belong to the WTO. Neighbouring Ukraine is also in talks to become a WTO Member; trade officials say that those negotiations are on track to wrap up by the end of the fall.
ICTSD reporting; "A New WTO Roadblock," RUSSIA PROFILE, 30 July 2007; "Ukraine ahead of Russia in WTO Bid," FINANCIAL TIMES, 26 July 2007; "Ukraine, Russia, and the WTO," KOMMERSANT.COM, 24 July 2007.