Afspraak met EU brengt Rusland dichter bij lidmaatschap WHO (en)

The deal concluded today covers the commitments that the Russian Federation

will undertake in goods and services once it accedes to the WTO. The average

tariff level that Russia will not exceed is 7.6% for industrial goods, 11% for

fishery products and for 13% for agricultural goods, in addition to tariff rate

quotas for fresh and frozen meat and poultry representing around 600 million

euro per year (15% of total EU agricultural exports to Russia).

In services, Russia will be taking commitments in a large range of sectors

including telecommunication, transport, financial services, postal and courier,

construction, distribution, environmental, news agency, and tourism. Commitments

include cross border provision of services and commercial establishment.

In addition, the agreement has solved a range of trade related energy

questions, in particular on the question of the domestic price for industrial

users of gas. This includes a commitment that the price of gas for industrial

users covers costs, profits and investment needed for exploitation of new

fields. Russian gas prices to industrial users would be gradually increased from

the current $ 27-28 to between $37-42 by 2006 and $49-57 by 2010, which is in

line with Russia's own energy strategy. Increasing domestic energy prices

will encourage a more efficient use of energy resources in Russia and it is thus

mutually supportive of the Kyoto goals.

Finally, agreement was reached to revamp the system of charges currently

applied to EU airlines overflying Siberia to make it cost based, transparent and

non-discriminatory by 2013 at the latest phase.

WTO accession is likely to anchor Russia into an international rules-based

trading system. It will enhance openness, transparency and predictability, which

are key to attracting foreign investment and provides a foundation for improved

economic governance.

WTO accession process

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. An accelerated programme of work of the Working Party was launched

in 2003, focussing on a broad range of systemic issues related to Russia's

trade regime, including customs procedures, technical regulations, intellectual

property rights. This work is carried out at the multilateral level involving

all WTO partners. The next meeting of the Working Party will take place in July

2004.

As part of the WTO accession process, Russia is negotiating bilateral market

access deals with all interested WTO members. The EU being Russia's

largest trading partner, the EU-Russia bilateral agreement is a major step in

the process of Russia's WTO membership. Russia is currently conducting

negotiations with the US, Japan, China, Canada, and Australia among others.

Once these bilateral negotiations have been concluded and the Working Party

has completed its work on Russia's trade regime, the Working Party will

determine the terms of accession. These will appear in a report with a protocol

of accession containing the specific market access commitments (in tariff and

services schedules) of the Russian Federation.

Background: EU-Russia trade relations

The EU and Russia have a solid trade relationship, which has become

stronger following EU enlargement. On the one hand, the EU is

Russia's main trading partner, accounting for above 50% of its overall

trade. On the other hand, Russia is the EU's fifth trading partner of the

EU behind the US, Switzerland, China and Japan and accounting for around 5% of

the EU's overall trade.

Total trade in goods between the enlarged EU and Russia amounted to around

euro 92 Billion in 2003. The pattern of bilateral trade reflects comparative

advantages of the two economies, with fuel and primary products representing the

bulk of Russian exports as opposed to capital and finished industrial and

consumer goods imported from the EU. Russia now provides over 20% of the

EU's needs in imported fuel. A significant proportion of Russian goods

entering the Community market benefits from the EU's General System of

Preferences (GSP), which lowers import duties below the most favoured nation

rate.

The EU is also the main source of technology, know-how and investment for

Russia. Trade in services, which represented around €10 billion in 2002,

i.e. below 2% of the EU's overall trade in services, retains great

potential for growth and the dynamic services sector will undoubtedly be

increasingly important to the trade relationship in the future. As regards

foreign direct investment, companies from EU Member States are the major foreign

investors in Russia. However, the EU outflows to Russia are still low, i.e.

€2.2 billion in 2002, and remain far below its potential.

The <a onclick="popup(this.href);return false" href="http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/doclib/html/114138.htm"

target="_new">Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) governs

political, economic and cultural relations between the EU and Russia. It was

signed in 1994 and entered into force on 1st December 1997. Under the terms of

the PCA, Russia receives Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) status, whereby no

quantitative limitations are applied except on exports of certain steel products

(which represent only 4% of bilateral trade). On 27 April, Russia agreed to

extend the PCA to the ten new EU Member States from 1 May 2004.

At the same time, the EU and Russia agreed on a Joint Statement addressing

Russia's concerns related to EU enlargement, in particular on tariffs,

steel, trade defence, agriculture and veterinary issues, energy and transit of

goods to/from Kaliningrad.

EU enlargement has simplified and enhanced access for Russian operators to

the markets of the ten new EU Member States. Russia is well positioned to take

advantage of the opportunities offered by EU enlargement.

This is also part of the rationale behind the Common Economic Space, which

should contribute to anchor Russia in the European and to fully benefit from the

recent EU enlargement. At the EU-Russia Summit of May 2001, the EU and Russia

launched discussions on the establishment of a Common Economic Space. The main

objective of this initiative, which covers essentially all trade and economic

issues, is the elimination of trade barriers between the EU and Russia mostly

through regulatory convergence. Indeed, regulatory convergence would allow

economic agents to operate subject to common rules in a number of fields

throughout the enlarged EU and Russia which represent a market of around 600

Million consumers.

The EU-Russia Summit on 21 May 2004 has discussed the next steps to develop

the four Spaces launched at the EU-Russia Summit in St. Petersburg in May 2003,

and notably the need to agree on an action plan on the Common Economic Space in

the coming months.

For more information:
<a

onclick="popup(this.href);return false" href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/bilateral/russia/russia.htm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/bilateral/russia/russia.htm
<a

onclick="popup(this.href);return false" href="http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_russie_e.htm">http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/a1_russie_e.htm