Gref: Completing WTO talks in 2007 of "utmost importance" for Russia
Completing talks on accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 is of the "utmost importance" for Russia so that it becomes a member of the organization before Russian parliamentary and presidential elections, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said Wednesday according to Prime-Tass.
"It is of the utmost importance for us to complete talks this year in order to take part in a new political cycle with the status of a WTO member," Gref said while speaking at a conference of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.
In late 2007 parliamentary elections will be held in Russia and in 2008 the presidential election will be held.
At present Russia is engaged in multilateral talks with the E.U. and the U.S., Gref said. He expressed his hope that all outstanding WTO issues would be resolved in the next several months.
Gref said he expected Russia to complete bilateral WTO accession talks with Vietnam in the coming month. On Tuesday, Russia finished the first round of talks with Vietnam and the parties agreed to resolve all unsettled issues within a month, Gref said.
Bilateral talks with Cambodia are also expected to be completed soon, Gref said. At the present time Russian negotiators are holding talks in Cambodia, he added.
Russia has signed WTO protocols with all WTO members that wished to hold bilateral talks, excluding Cambodia, Vietnam, Georgia and Guatemala. Russia has also yet to complete multilateral WTO negotiations.
If Russia joins the WTO in 2008, the federal budget will lose a projected 40 billion rubles in revenue due to Russia's new WTO obligations; in particular, revenue is expected to fall due to reduced import duties, Gref said. The loss of federal budget revenue as a result of WTO accession is projected at about 70 billion rubles in 2009 and about 100 billion rubles in 2010, Gref said.
