U.S.-initiated closed trade blocs risk devaluing WTO principles - Lavrov
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - The creation of closed regional trade blocs like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could undermine the basic principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
The United States is the initiator of such trade blocs being created in the Pacific region, he said.
"If closed international trade-investment structures are created, like those that I have just mentioned, like the Pacific Partnership, and the Americans are advancing the idea of the TTIP across the Atlantic space, there are fears that by creating such closed trade blocs, their initiators could, either deliberately or non deliberately, lead the whole thing to the universal principles of the World Trade Organization being devalued," he said during a government hour in the Federation Council on Wednesday.
"This is a big conceptual problem," Lavrov said. Such actions could lead to the center of gravity in world economy shifting precisely towards such closed trade blocs, he said.
The minister stressed the importance of harmonizing integration processes similarly to the way it is being done in Europe. "We believe that just like in Europe, where we need to talk about harmonizing integration processes, not least by establishing relations between the Eurasian Economic Union, the European Union, so it is in the Asia-Pacific region, where it is important to ensure openness," he said.
The same applies to the military-political sphere, he said. There are a number of closed military blocs in the Asia-Pacific region, involving the U.S., Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, he said. "The deficit of general-structure security is clearly felt," the Russian minister said.
