Brussels, 22/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht welcomed on Wednesday 22 August, the formal accession of Russia to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after 18 years of negotiation (see EUROPE 10640 and 10649). This accession represents “a major step for Russia's further integration into the world economy” he said in a press release. He went on to say that it “will facilitate investment and trade, help to accelerate the modernisation of the Russian economy and offer plenty of business opportunities for both Russian and European companies. I trust that Russia will meet the international trading rules and standards to which it has committed.”
As a member of the WTO, Russia will lower its import duties, which should decrease from an average rate of 10% to 7.8%. The drop in customs tariffs could represent an annual saving of €2.5 billion and stimulate additional exports for a value of nearly €4bn. Europeans will continue to follow closely the development of Russian regulation in domains such as customs procedures, sanitary standards and the protection of intellectual property. The European Commission has said that is “particularly concerned” about the Russian legislative proposal which would impose a tax on the recycling of vehicles - a measure which is potentially discriminatory with regard to imported vehicles. It hopes that this legislation will not be adopted.
Russia is the third trading partner of the European Union and the EU is the first trading partner of Russia. In 2011 the EU exported goods and services to the value of €108.4 billion - mainly cars and car parts, medicines, telephones and telephone parts, and tractors. The EU mainly imported raw materials from Russia such as oil (€130 billion) and gas (€24 billion). The EU is the main foreign investor in Russia (€120 billion in 2010). (MB/transl.fl)