Shuvalov's visit to Brussels to focus on Russia WTO accession

BRUSSELS, September 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Issues of Russia's accession of
the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be in the focus of the Brussels
visit by Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov.
According to a source in the European Commission, Shuvalov plans to
meet with European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht.
Shuvalov will hold consultations to sum up issues related to Russia's
entry to the WTO, the source said but refused to comment how implementable
are earlier forecasts providing for Russia's accession of the organization
by the yearend.
Formally, Russia and the European Union ended bilateral negotiations
on the terms of Russia's WTO accession on December 7, 2010, when at the
Russia-European Union summit Russian Minister of Economic Development
Elvira Nabiullina and European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht
signed a memorandum of understanding on terms of Russia's accession of the
WTO.
However, both sides then noted that Russia and the European Union will
still have to meet at a negotiating table on WTO issues, but rather in a
multilateral rather than in a bilateral format at consultations in Geneva.
Russia and the European Union have been negotiating Russia's possible
entry to the World Trade Organization for 17 years, while it takes other
countries not more than five years to complete similar talks. This year,
Russia has managed to make a breakthrough in this area having completed
bilateral negotiations with such key players as the European Union, and
the United States.
Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization also has specific
importance for relations with the European Union, since its opens up a way
for finalizing talks on a new basic agreement on strategic partnership.
The agreement's basic provisions are being agreed on a presumption that by
the time it comes into force Russia is a member of that organization.
The European Union is Russia's biggest trade partner and a key source
of investments. Russia is ranked among the European Union's three biggest
trade partners (after the United States and China) and is a basic supplier
of energy resources.