WTO:Working Party seals the deal on Russia’s membership negotiations

Russia’s accession to the WTO cleared a major hurdle when the WTO Working Party on its accession approved, ad referendum on 10 November 2011, the package spelling out Russia’s terms of entry to the organization. The Working Party will now send its accession recommendation to the 15 —17 December Ministerial Conference, where Ministers are expected to approve the documents and accept Russia as a WTO Member.

On 10 November 2011, the Working Party on Russia’s accession, chaired by Ambassador Stefán Jóhannesson (Iceland), agreed, ad referendum, on the terms of the country’s membership to the WTO by adopting the package containing reforms to Russia’s trade regime, and the commitments that Russia undertook to implement as part of its WTO accession.

“It has been a long journey, but today Russia has taken a big step towards its destination of membership in the WTO. In acceding to the WTO, Russia embraces a series of rules and commitments that are the foundation of an open, transparent and non-discriminatory global trading system. This system provides important guarantees for Russia and for the 153 other Members of our organization. This win-win result will bring Russia more firmly into the global economy and make it a more attractive place to do business. For the WTO, it comes as a most welcome deliverable for the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference and signals anew the relevance and vibrancy of the WTO as an instrument for international co-operation,” said Director-General Pascal Lamy.

“It is gratifying to see that after 18 years of sometimes uneasy negotiations the process of WTO accession is completed today. The agreement as negotiated brings us into the system of multilateral trading rules, creating new opportunities for our traders and investors and enabling us to protect their commercial interests even more effectively than before,” said Maxim Medvedkov, chief negotiator for the Russian Federation.

“The completion of this Working Party’s activity represents an historic achievement for the WTO. I am convinced that Russia’s accession to the WTO will bring substantial benefits both to Russia and to the Members of this organization. In these difficult economic times, this represents good news and I have no doubt that Russia joining our WTO family will strengthen the multilateral trading system and enhance global economic cooperation,” said Working Party Chairman Ambassador Jóhannesson.

Working Party seals the deal on Russia’s membership negotiations