Putin hopes Russia's WTO membership talks will be completed in 2011
BEIJING. Oct 11 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes that the negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) could be completed in 2011.
"I really would like it and I hope that we can complete this process this year. We have done all we could for this to happen," Putin said in an interview with Chinese media outlets.
All the key economic problems on the way of Russia's WTO membership have been settled, and the issue is now political, Putin said. "This depends on our principal partners," Putin said.
He reaffirmed Russia's desire to become a WTO member. "We do want to join the World Trade Organization, we have set ourselves this goal and objective, we believe that overall this will have a positive effect on the Russian economy," said the Russian head of government, adding that a WTO membership will raise the level of confidence in the Russian economy and in its administrative and legal procedures.
Russia has fully brought its national legislation in line with the WTO requirements, he said. The main issues with all the key partners in the negotiations have been solved.
For a long time, talks focused on agriculture, sanitary measures, quotas for agricultural product supplies and on the problem of industrial automotive assembly, the Russian prime minister said. All in all, these issues have been settled.
"Today it is rather a question of a political nature," Putin said, adding that its resolution depends on Russia's partners in Europe and the United States.
For the WTO to become an organization of universal importance, Russia must become its member, at least as the world's largest oil producing country, he said.
Representatives from various sectors hold various views on Russia's accession to the WTO, Putin said. Some see it as a necessary step, other believe that certain sectors are still not competitive enough and the time being Russia should stay out of the WTO for the time being, he said.
"My opinion is that overall, Russia's accession to the WTO will be positive, but I repeat: on standard terms, with mandatory agreements protecting certain sectors of the Russian economy for a certain period of time until they really become competitive," Putin said.
The head of the Russian government thanked China for supporting Russia's bid to join the WTO.