Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed The Federal Law on Ratification of the Protocol on the Accession of the Russian Federation. This completes the domestic procedures for Russia to accede membership into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
It is expected that Russia will officially become the 156th member of the WTO on Aug. 22, thirty days after the WTO Secretariat is notified of President Putin’s signature.
Membership in the WTO requires that Russia implement comprehensive changes to its trade policies, as stipulated in the Accession Protocol. This includes the liberalization of market access and lowering of the tariff ceiling for all products, including agriculture and manufactured goods.
Experts say that Russia’s $1.9 trillion economy will get a boost from the move to the WTO. It is expected that WTO membership will stimulate greater trade between Russia and the rest of the world. Some estimate that it could be up to a 3.3% boost to the GDP in the first three years of membership.
In order to protect certain Russian industries, some transitional arrangements have been negotiated in favor of certain products. These include civil aircraft, helicopters, motor cars and pork.
Russia’s membership signals a movement towards more foreign investment which will result from the implementation of rules and regulations which address issues such as corruption, protection of minority shareholders and the independence of the judiciary.
Negotiations for membership into the WTO started in 1993. These negotiations were marked by disagreements within the Russian power structure as well as with Western WTO members. But President Putin has now embraced the idea of the modernization of the Russian economy in order to decrease Russia’s dependence on oil and gas exports.
Source: Lowtax
