Kester Klomegah

MOSCOW, Oct 17 2005 (IPS) — Russia seems in no hurry to join the WTO at the start of a two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum here Monday.

“The WTO (World Trade Organisation) is not a goal in itself,” government spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told IPS. “It is not the fast pace of admission that matters. We will join this organisation when the terms of our membership fully reflect Russia’s economic interests.”

About 250 participants at the World Economic Forum (WEF) are meeting here to gain a first-hand view of economic, political and social developments in Russia. The WEF is a Geneva-based international organisation of leaders from business, government and academia. The meeting follows intensive negotiations on Russia’s membership at bilateral and multilateral talks. Accession to the global trade body requires candidates to negotiate individual deals with each of its 148 member countries.

“Talks have been completed and protocols signed with 19 WTO members on the terms of their access to our commodity market, and with 13 members on services,” Yakovenko said. “Intensive work is under way on a final report by the working group, which will lay down our obligations under all agreements.”

But, he added, “it’s no secret that the most difficult issues are still not settled.” There is no agreement yet on the size of import duties in such sensitive areas as the aviation and car industries, the terms of foreign banks and insurance companies’ access to the Russian market, and measures to support agriculture.

Differences remain also over customs regulations, veterinary control, protection of intellectual property and regulation of the pharmaceuticals market.

Talks with the United States on some of these issues are the last major hurdle to Russia’s entry into the club. But on difficult issues “there are no shortcuts,” new U.S. ambassador William Burns told a U.S.-Russia business council meeting. “Enforcement of intellectual property rights and other issues are still on the table.”

Burns said: “That process will not happen overnight, nor will it be easy. It will be a struggle for at least a generation of Russians, and there will be no shortage of challenges along the way.” Recent Russian steps on enforcement of intellectual property rights offer some encouragement, and an indication that Russian authorities recognise that piracy is a threat not only to foreign firms and international standards but also to Soviet era industries struggling to face foreign competitors. Russian officials are particularly concerned about the agricultural sector. Accession to the organisation might reduce the competitiveness of Russian farmers in foreign trade, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Agriculture Ivan Ushachev told IPS. “The WTO is not interested in social and economic consequences of this expansion to the market of a specific nation,” Ushachev said. Russia loses 3.3 billion dollars a year to unbalanced foreign trade in agricultural products, he said. Liberalisation of the Russian agricultural market in compliance with WTO requirements will reduce Russia’s share of world exports from 1.3 percent to 1 percent, and raise imports from 1.9 percent to 2.3 percent, he said. Despite such hurdles, “we hope that more rapid talks with these countries on (Russia’s) accession on market principles will yield an agreement that Russia may join the WTO next spring,” spokesman for the trade organisation’s working group Maxim Medvedkov told IPS.