KRASNODAR, August 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia now has much stronger agricultural positions at the accession talks with the World Trade Organisation than 5-7 years ago, President Dmitry Medvedev said.
He stressed that the achievements made up to date should not be lost after accession to the WTO.
“We must keep everything, of course,” Medvedev said at a meeting with agricultural workers on Monday August 8.
“In our talks with the EU, the United States and other countries we try to defend the positions of our agricultural producers as much as we can,” the president said, adding that the Russian delegation has so far been succeeding in doing so.
“The overly stringent requirements put forth for us were rejected, but some countries, including our neighbours, gave up without fighting and they have a totally different situation now,” Medvedev said.
“We must preserve everything we have done and everything that cost us money, effort and hard work,” he said.
Russia has made a qualitative leap in terms of agriculture over the last several years. “If were joining the WTO 5-7 years ago, I am sure it would have been more difficult for us to defend the interests of our agricultural producers,” he said.
Medvedev said earlier, “We should cover the remaining distance quickly, without creating big problems for communication with our leading partners in the EU. I hope that the government will find such compromise.”
Medvedev instructed the government to speed up Russia’s accession to the WTO and recalled that he discussed this issue in particular with the head of that organisation and the U.S. president.
“We believe it necessary to intensify our efforts to join the WTO,” he said.
Medvedev said Russia would use the shortest way possible to join the WTO. He said the form of accession was less important.
“I am very pleased by the fact that our decision to create the Customs Union stirred up international interest in Russia’s accession to the WTO so much. Only recently did I think that no one was really interested in this. Now I am confident that accession is necessary not only for Russia, but also for its EU partners. This is an important result of the creation of the Customs Union,” Medvedev said.
“The only question that remains and that will most likely be solved shortly is the scenario of accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO: whether it will be done as part of a joint process of our union’s accession to the organisation or we will do it separately, individually, but after coordinating our position in advance with our Customs Union partners. Both are possible, I think. What is important for us is the speed: whichever way is the shortest, we will use that way. If it turns out to be the way of concerted but individual accession, we will choose that way,” Medvedev said.
“Such instructions have been given to the government, and the government is working on this now,” the president added.
The United States actively supports Russia’s accession to the WTO and hopes that this process can be completed before the end of the current year, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats said earlier.
The light at the end of the tunnel is now brighter than ever, he said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on June 20, referring to prospects for Russia’s admission to the WTO.
But when asked if this work could be finished by July, Hormats gave no clear answer and repeated that the U.S. would use the end of the years as a feasible deadline and there was nothing that could prevent the sides from completing the process by that time.
However Russian officials said the other day that if the remaining questions were not solved by August, the process may drag on for years.
Hormats said that Washington was requiring no more and no less of Moscow than of other countries that seek WTO membership and stressed that there was no and could be no discrimination.
The U.S. administration continues to support to steadfastly support Russia’s admission to the WTO, U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro said earlier.
Russia may become a member of the World Trade Organisation before the end of the year, its Director-General Pascal Lamy said.
For the first time in about ten years that he has been dealing with Russia’s admission to the WTO, Lamy seems to be truly hopeful that the country’s admission to the organisation is real as never before, he said.
“We should cover the remaining distance quickly, without creating big problems for communication with our leading partners in the EU. I hope that the government will find such compromise,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier.
Medvedev has instructed the government to speed up Russia’s accession to the WTO and recalled that he discussed this issue in particular with the head of that organisation and the U.S. president.
“We believe it necessary to intensify our efforts to join the WTO,” he said.
Medvedev said Russia would use the shortest way possible to join the WTO. He said the form of accession was less important.
Usually, admission to the WTO takes about 10 years. Russia applied for admission in December 1994 and has repeatedly complained about the delay since then.