| There is one day left until the agreement with the European Union on Russia's accession to the WTO By the end of the week, Russia’s geopolitical position in the modern world may change dramatically. Tomorrow the Russia-European Union summit will be held in Moscow. It is already clear that the summit will not be ordinary. And the point is not that this is Russia’s first official meeting with the new European Union, now consisting of 25 countries. Perhaps today the European Union will remove all objections to Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
Chairman of the European Commission Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of the Irish Presidency of the European Union Bertie Ahern, as well as Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan, EU Chief Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and EU Chief Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten are going to Moscow. Today, on the eve of the summit, acting. Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref and EU Chief Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy will hold talks.
Last week, at a similar meeting between Mr. Gref and Mr. Lamy in Paris, the participants made transparent hints about the possibility of a historic breakthrough in the trade and economic relations of the parties. And the official press release of the EU Delegation to Russia, distributed yesterday, states that “at the summit the achievement of bilateral agreements on Russia’s accession to the WTO will be emphasized.” That is, the existence of such agreements is indirectly confirmed.
The main issue of the forum was the discussion of the concept of four common spaces: economic space; spaces of freedom, security and justice; spaces of external security, as well as spaces of research, education and culture. Common spaces imply increased cooperation in these areas. At the summit, the parties must find out exactly how they intend to cooperate. Specific agreements on the spaces are scheduled to be signed during the next summit in November in The Hague.
Russia, according to official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yakovenko, expects the EU to fulfill its obligations to respect the rights of the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic states, and also counts on liberalization of the visa regime with the European Union and the signing of a special agreement on Kaliningrad transit.
The European Union, in turn, has high hopes that Moscow will finally agree to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which limits greenhouse gas emissions. As is known, the main industrial centers of the world, the USA and China, refused to sign the protocol, and without Russia it cannot even come into effect. However, there is little chance of this. In addition to the sharply negative attitude towards the protocol by Presidential Economic Adviser Andrei Illarionov, Russian scientists entered the fight against the Kyoto agreements, recently presenting President Putin and Prime Minister Fradkov with a document proving that the Kyoto Protocol is detrimental to the Russian economy and still cannot prevent global warming.
The EU also intends to receive guarantees from Russia of a gradual increase in domestic gas prices. Although the initial formulation of the question - about equalizing domestic Russian and world gas prices - was abandoned in the European Union. In general, gas prices, as well as Gazprom’s monopoly on its export to European markets, according to the European Union, were the main obstacle to Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization.
In addition to the gas topic, the EU has a whole list of demands on Russia on the eve of its possible admission to the WTO. For example, eliminate import duties on cars, airplanes, alcohol and textiles, or waive duties on airlines flying over Siberia, or open the Russian market to Western banks and insurers. We will find out exactly what wishes of the EU Moscow agreed with today. Or, as a last resort, on Friday, if for political reasons it is decided that Vladimir Putin and Romano Prodi, and not German Gref and Pascal Lamy, should announce the final agreement with the European Union on Russia’s accession to the WTO. Vera SITNINA |
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