Geneva, 16/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - With Russia now a member, accession having been approved after 18 years of negotiation, the WTO will now cover 97% of world trade.
With the unanimous approval of its 153 member nations - an essential condition - the WTO gave its official go-ahead to Russia's membership on the second day of its eighth ministerial meeting, on Friday 16 December. After 18 years of roller-coaster talks, the last major non-WTO economy will now be part of the ranks of the multilateral organisation governing world trade. The Russian parliament will have until June 2012 to ratify and guarantee entry into force of the agreement signed on Friday by the Russian minister, Elvira Nabiullina.
As part of the membership agreement, Russia agreed to a series of commitments aimed at greater opening of its trading regime and speeding up its integration into the global economy. WTO provisions will all be applied at the date when the agreement takes effect, with very few transition periods. In total, Russia sealed 30 bilateral agreements to guarantee access to services, and 57 bilateral agreements to guarantee access to goods, in order to obtain the approval of WTO member states (see EUROPE 10493).
After this “18-year marathon”, WTO Director Pascal Lamy welcomed Friday's “historic moment”, underlining that, now Russia is a member, the WTO covers 97% of world trade. (EH/transl.jl)