Russia plans to complete talks on WTO accession by December 2011 - chief negotiator
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - A plan for negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) envisions its completion by the time of the WTO General Council meeting scheduled for December 14-16, Maxim Medvedkov, the chief of the Russian delegation at the WTO talks, has told Interfax in a comment on the Wednesday multilateral consultations in Geneva.
"During the consultations, the chair of the working group on Russia's accession to the WTO, Stefan Johannesson, proposed that the timeline envision a technical opportunity for completing the talks by the end of the year, so that Russia's accession to the WTO will be on the agenda of the General Council meeting to take place on December 14-16," Medvedkov said.
The participants in the consultations considered another three sections of the working group's final report regarding technological regulations, mechanisms of administration of tariff quotas and registration requirements on Wednesday. Hence, 43 out of the 46 sections of the final report have been cleared by now, he said.
Final informal multilateral consultations should take place on October 24, and the working group's final formal meeting is scheduled for November 10-11. Hence, the participants should finish the talks on a consolidated list of obligations on access to the market by mid-October, Medvedkov said.
The next multilateral consultations are scheduled for mid-September to consider veterinary and phyto-sanitary measures and rules of investment, which includes aspects of industrial assembly of cars. Consultations on the latter issue are continuing, and "we are close to agreement with some countries," he said.
The participants will have also to consider subsidies in the agricultural sector, but this issue will be discussed after consultations on meat import quotas are completed, Medvedkov said.
"Negotiations on meat have been continuing uninterruptedly over the past two weeks. There has been significant progress. About ten countries are involved in the discussions," Medvedkov said.
This issue should be settled by the end of August, he said.