Russia's WTO Accession Talks Set

After a series of heated exchanges, Russia and Georgia are to resume their Swiss-mediated discussion of Russian admission to the World Trade Organization.

It has been confirmed that, on April 28-29, Russian and Georgian officials will meet in Bern, Switzerland, for the latest round of talks on Russia's attempt to enter the WTO, an organization in which Georgia is already a member.

Russia has been in negotiations with the WTO since 1995, and its entry is supported by powerful players such as the EU, Canada, the US, China and Japan. However, it is Georgian opposition which has proved key to stalling these efforts.

Considerable animosity has been fostered by Georgia's insistence upon its right to enforce duties and monitor commodity movements between Russia and the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Diplomatic ties were cut following the 2008 war fought over the issue of South Ossetia, hence the role of Swiss mediators in the WTO talks.

Talks held on March 10 were the first since the cessation of diplomatic relations, and the situation remains tense. Russia has since accused Georgia of political motivation in its defence of these rights, an argument which has prompted strong denials from Georgian officials who have stressed an intention merely to secure the interests of their country.

Following the announcement that talks are to resume, deputy foreign minister Nino Kalandadze again came out to defend Georgia's attitude towards Russian admission, emphasizing that Georgia's requirements were directly linked to those of the WTO, and were not of a political nature. Nonetheless, Georgia's position on the breakaway regions remains entrenched, with Russia's establishment of what Georgia calls illegal border checkpoints likely to cause friction during the upcoming talks.

The issue of politicization has also been raised by the US in recent days, with Georgia being warned against using the talks to deal with political scores. The US, however, has stepped away from the mediation role currently played by Switzerland, worried that it could also be seen to be politicizing the talks.

Russia remains the last major economy outside the WTO. The WTO Agreement states that decisions must be approved by a two-thirds majority of members (currently at 153), but elsewhere in the Agreement, it is stated that the Organization's practice is to arrive at decisions by consensus, and that a vote is only taken when it is impossible to reach a consensus. A 1995 Council vote decided that consensus should take precedence over vote based decision making.

April 24^th, 2011

Source: tax-news.com