| | | WTO Within Sight: December Newsletter WTO Within Sight
Last month Russia signed a bilateral trade agreement with the United States, a prerequisite for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, promising greater market access. The final rounds were hard fought on both sides, not least by Alexey Portanskiy, director of Russia’s WTO Information Center. He characterizes the final stages of the negotiations:
"Bilateral talks between Russia and the US on Russia’s WTO accession were rather complicated. The most difficult issues were access to the Russian market of financial services, protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Russia, reduction of duties on civil aviation equipment and issues of agricultural trade.Originally, it was planned to sign a bilateral agreement in July, 2006 in St. Petersburg within the G8 summit. However, the intention failed: the stumbling block was agriculture, to be more exact, sanitary control (SPS measures) while exporting American beef, pork and chicken meat to Russia. The negotiations were still of a complicated character, and sometimes there was not enough certainty that the agreement would meet the deadline. Finally, the necessary accords were reached on November 10, 2006 at the talks in Brussels, which opened the way for signing the bilateral deal on November 19, 2006 in Hanoi in the course of the APEC summit.An outstanding role in reaching the final agreement belongs to the US Administration and, in particular, to President George W. Bush. It is known, that the Russian authorities have also highly appreciated President Bush’s role in signing the bilateral deal with the US on Russia’s WTO accession.Russia had to agree with 58 WTO member states, which composed the Working Party on Russia’s WTO accession. And now, in 2007, Russia has only to complete the multilateral talks."
The agreement represents a major milestone in trade relations between Russia and the U.S., but full benefit to both parties still hinges on a few decisions. Portanskiy highlights one:
"It is necessary to note that both Russia and the US will be able to experience the positive effect of the deal to its full extent, only after the US Congress grants Russia PNTR. And for that, the Congress should vote first for abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment in respect of Russia. We do not know when it will happen, but we’d like to hope for the near future."
With the multilateral complete and a positive decision by congress, what can exporters expect in terms of market access? Portanskiy remarks:
"The importance of the agreements and compromises has a great meaning both for the bilateral relations between Russia and the US, and for completion of the accession process. However it does not mean an immediate practical effect. The impact of such deals will be felt with years. For instance, in practice, the US and other trade partners will feel a gradual reduction of trade barriers in Russia as a result of import customs duties decrease in the course of 2-7 years. So, the average weighted tariff for industrial goods will go down from 10.2 % to 6.9% during this time."
Read more about Russia’s point of view at its WTO Information Center
http://www.wto.ru/en/newsmain.asp
The Agreement and side letters are available at
http://eng.uda.ru or http://ustr.gov
Download the full text of the Agricultural Trade Office's (AT0) December 2007 Newsletter with the link provided to the right.
FULL DECEMBER 2006 NEWSLETTER CONTENTS...WTO Within Sight: An Interview with Alexey Portanskiy
Russia’s Economy at a Glance
The Face of U.S. Foods ·Website unveiling·Biotechnology revisited·Trade Shows 2006
Industry Showcase·A Good Catch: Seafood·Alcohol Disruptions·Vladivostok Port
United States – Russian Trade Through September 2006
Other Happenings: Fruit Buyer’s Mission and Tour of U.S. Ports
USDA in Russia
ATO Upcoming Events
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