[autom.vertaling] Pascal Lamy in Rusland om WTO toetreding te bespreken (en)

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy visits Russia on 16 October to discuss Russia's WTO accession negotiations. During his visit he will meet Prime Minister Kasyanov, Trade Minister Gref as well as various representatives of Russian industries. On the eve of his visit to Moscow Mr. Lamy said: "We are keen to make good progress in the WTO accession talks, but this means hard work ahead in a number of key areas such as services and issues related to trade in energy. We will continue to work in an open and constructive manner with the hope that Russia will soon be able to join the WTO."

Discussions with the Russian Government will focus on how to take the WTO negotiations forward i.e., both on the necessary Russian market access commitments upon accession in the fields of agriculture, industrial goods and services, as well as on the rules that Russia will have to implement in such areas as intellectual property, standards and customs procedures. Issues related to trade in energy such as low domestic prices, export duties , discriminatory transport fees and free transit will also be high on the WTO accession agenda. , Discussion is also expected to focus on the issue of charges paid by European airlines when flying over Siberia as well as trade in services, and in particular telecommunications.. The ministers are expected to discuss their respective priorities in detail, as well as how to help foster progress with other countries at the WTO meetings in Geneva.

Background

Following Russia's application for WTO membership in 1993, the Working Party on the accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO was established on 16 June 1993. On 18 December 2002, the Working Party agreed on an accelerated programme of work for 2003. A well-defined programme of bilateral and multilateral meetings for the 2003 is underway, with the next Working Party meetings scheduled for November 2003. As part of the WTO accession process, Russia is currently negotiating bilateral market access deals with a number of countries including the EU, the US, Japan.

In the bilateral area, EU-Russia trade relations are governed by the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement dating from 1994.

Russia is the EU's fifth trading partner (after the US, Switzerland, China and Japan). While the EU is Russia's main trading partner accounting for 40% of its total trade.

Total EU trade with Russia in 2002 amounted to € 78 bio and the EU had a trade deficit of € 17 bio. Main EU imports from Russia are energy (55%), agriculture (5%) and chemicals (4%). Main EU exports are machinery (34%), chemicals (13%), agriculture (11%), transport material (11%) and textiles (6%).

EU-Russia trade has more than doubled between 1995 and 2002: in 1995 EU trade with Russia amounted to € 38 bio (EU had a deficit of € -6 bio).

For more information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/bilateral/russia/russia.htm

http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_russie_e.htm

PROGRAMME

Meeting with Russian industrialists

Meeting with Alexei Miller (CEO Gazprom)

Meetings with Russian Trade Minister German Gref

Meeting with Russian Prime Minister Kasyanov

Press Conference