Russian accession to WTO ‘as early as 2004’
Provided everything goes to plan, Russia could be a member nation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by as early as 2004.
So says the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, in a new report on the country’s economic prospects for the next three years.
"The negotiations on Russia's joining the World Trade Organisation could enter their final phase in 2003, when principal agreements on a package of terms for Russia's joining the WTO would be reached," the report notes.
Next year, Russia is expected to sign a number of bilateral protocols with states belonging to a working group that is currently presiding over the country’s accession to the WTO. If the protocols are agreed on schedule, the group could approve the essential documents in late 2003 or early 2004, after which approval by the WTO General Council would be a formality.
"However, in a less favourable scenario, the negotiations could be dragged out," the document warns. This implies a situation in which Moscow's partners in the talks insist on accession terms exceeding the basic WTO requirements (the so-called ‘WTO-Plus’ terms). They might also seek additional access to Russian markets, over and above those implied by WTO membership, or try to extract additional agricultural export concessions, slowing down the multilateral trade talks, which started November 2001.
