Unresolved industrial car assembly issue may postpone RF's WTO

GENEVA, September 17 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's accession to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) may be postponed, if the issue of industrial
assembly of cars is not resolved in the near future, the head of the
Russian delegation at negotiations on accession to WTO, head of the trade
negotiations department at the Ministry of Economic Development Minister
Maxim Medvedkov, told Itar-Tass after this week's consultations.
"If Russia and its partners do not resolve the problem of industrial
assembly in the near future, Russia's WTO accession is likely to be
delayed," he said. "But it is clear that our negotiating position has not
changed. We do not sacrifice the quality of accession to its speed. We are
not deviating from the general line, it is important for us on which
conditions we are to join in," said Medvedkov.
He said that during this week's consultations the Working Group's
chairman Stefan Haukur Johannesson said that the plan to complete the
accession by December, approved in July, is being implemented by and
large. The technical schedule for the completion of negotiations, which
have lasted for 18 years, stipulates that a final formal meeting of the
working group will be held on November 10-11, and all negotiations should
be completed by the WTO Ministerial Conference, scheduled for December
15-17.
"This schedule includes various assumptions regarding the time, but
they are not very big, because there are procedural requirements for the
provision of documents, for some countries it is important to have a
complete package for its internal approval, and it must get approval in
Russia, too. But there is still some time," said Medvedkov.
Another major unresolved issue at this moment is that of meat talks,
Medvedkov said. At the same time, he acknowledged that the issue was
linked to the negotiations on industrial assembly.
"The partners are aware of this, because inside the WTO nothing is
agreed until everything has been agreed. We have determined the contour of
the agreements on meat, but the contours of the agreements in effect cease
to be what they are only if we come to an agreement acceptable to us," he
said.
As Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina told the media in
Sochi, "the likelihood that we shall be finished before the end of the
year, as planned, is very small, but it is still there." According to
Nabiullina, now, the most significant issue at negotiations with the
European partners on which there is disagreement is the mode of the
industrial assembly of cars. At the same time she believes that the
decision on industrial assembly should be made "within the same package
with the decision on access to the Russian meat market."
The WTO brings together 153 states, they account for 95 percent of
world trade. Russia applied for joining the organization in 1994. In the
second half of 2010 Russia greatly increased its negotiating efforts on
the WTO track, in particular, there were completed negotiations with the
U.S. and the EU.