Russia And The World Trade Organization PDF Download

Seventeen years have passed and Russia is still waiting for its accession to World Trade Organization (WTO). Hence, the feeling of frustration was evident for the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev even as, in October 2010, the US President Barack Obama extended his strong support for expediting Russia's accession to WTO. The inordinate delay in Russia's accession has been due to various objective and subjective factors. In the 1990s, after the Soviet disintegration, under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, there were many domestic constraints as Russia was passing through tremendous political and economic problems of transition. Since 2000, during the first term of President Vladimir Putin, Russia did make a serious beginning for complying with various formalities for accession. But the process of accession was hindered partly due to certain economic and political policies undertaken by Putin during his second term covering 2004 to mid-2008. Russia faced objections for its admission to WTO by some of the former Soviet Republics such as Georgia, Estonia and Moldova. Moreover, certain trade restrictive policies in Russia, including enhanced export duties and import restrictions, antagonized European Union (EU) and the US which had been otherwise supportive to Russia's accession. Russia-US relations, known for their historic complexities, also contributed for the delay. This was evident from the fact that even at the end of 2006, Russia was not able to complete its bilateral protocol with 5 out of 153 countries including the US. Since 2009, under the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, Russia has taken consistent policy measures and made significant progress in completing the formalities for accession. To implement policy measures, steps have been taken by the concerned ministries of the government of Russia with the concerned organizations. Russia has conceded to take policy measures to overcome objections on the issues relating to agricultural subsidy, Customs Union (CU) and hopes to resolve the remaining constraints within a few months with support from Russia's major partners including Germany and the US. Thus, there are high hopes that Russia has entered the final act for accession to WTO.