Putin Demands End to 18-Year WTO Wait

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 7 October 2011

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07 October 2011

In his first direct address to investors after announcing his decision to run again for Presidency next year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called on his nation’s trading partners to decide quickly on whether to admit Russia to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after 18 years in which its membership application has been pending.

"Do our main partners in Europe and the US want Russia to become a WTO member or not?" said Putin, as quoted by The New York Times. "There is no need to take refuge in the Georgia issue. If they want, they can have this very quickly, especially considering that we have reached a compromise on most issues."

Although both Russia and the United States have suggested that the Kremlin was close to attaining its WTO membership, a major obstacle to Russia’s accession is Georgia, who could block Russia’s path, unless their demands in South Ossetia and Abkhazia are met.

Russia and Georgia have yet to find any common ground in negotiations over the two regions, said Georgia’s National Security Council secretary Giga Bokeria.

“We know our allies are interested in having Russia in the W.T.O., but there is a compromise that has to be reached first,” he said. “The ball is in their court.”

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has admitted that while it is in his country's best economic interest if Russia were to join the WTO, he would still not back away from his border monitoring demands in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia is by far the largest economy in the world that has yet to be a member of the WTO. According to Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, there is a strong possibility that the country might finally complete its entry into the organisation after 18 long years of negotiation, especially with strong lobbying support from the US.

“We have Americans working 24 hours a day on our application in order to persuade other W.T.O. members that Russia should get membership before the end of the year,” said Shuvalov at a United States-Russia trade event in Chicago, as cited by The New York Times. “At the beginning of this year, very few people believed it was possible. Now we are very close to that.”

Putin himself on the other hand was more nonchalant over whether the country would benefit from joining the trade organisation.

"As to whether I think this will benefit Russia or not... fifty-fifty. But in all, it's more a plus than a minus," said Putin. "We are not rejecting this goal... but will do it only in the case where no unacceptable conditions are set for us."


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