Russian WTO entry gains support

The BRICS country hopes talks may be concluded later this year

SANYA, Hainan - Trade ministers from China, Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday expressed strong support for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year.

Analysts said Russia's entry would greatly benefit the multilateral trading system (the set of rules under which signature countries conduct trade) and bilateral trade between China and Russia.

"It's extremely unreasonable for Russia to be excluded from the multilateral trading system," said Chen Deming, China's commerce minister, at a joint news conference after the first meeting of economic and trade ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (also known as the BRICS countries) in Sanya, Hainan province.

Russia first applied to join the global trade framework 18 years ago. As the largest economy outside the 153 WTO members, it hopes to finalize accession negotiations by the end of this year.

The country's accession would make the WTO more representative and expand the influence of the multilateral trading system, ministers said in a joint statement.

Oleg Fomichev, Russia's deputy economic-development minister, told China Daily he's confident that negotiations can be completed this year.

"We have two issues. The first is the technical issue of upgrading the documents of working groups for Russia's WTO accession, and the second concerns political questions about agricultural supports. But I think we will be able to solve these problems by the end of the year," he said.

Song Hong, a senior researcher at the department of international trade with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Russia's long-running attempt to join the WTO has been delayed by the developed economies for political reasons.

Russia will not abide by any WTO rules until it becomes a member, according to a Reuters report of comments made by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week.

Russia has the right to violate the rules since it's not a member, Song said, adding that it's not a good choice to keep a $1.5 trillion economy outside the regime. The nation's WTO entry would boost trade between China and Russia as well as promoting greater confidence in the global multilateral trading system.

After two years of stagnation in the Doha Round talks, ministers from Brazil, China, India and South Africa warned that the Doha Development Agenda is at "a critical juncture".

"The delicate balance of trade-offs achieved over more than 10 years of negotiations, contained in the draft texts of December 2008, risks being upset," they said in a joint statement.

The developing economies have remained constructively engaged and are willing to conclude the round on the basis of those draft outcomes, said Rob Davis, South Africa's trade and industry minister.

The BRICS countries, previously "pacemakers" in the global recovery, are facing challenges such as inflationary pressures and asset bubbles as a result of the global financial crisis and the stimulus policies later instituted by the developed economies, according to China's Chen.

They need to intensify coordination of macroeconomic policies and to further upgrade economic cooperation and trade in the post-crisis era, to "continue to contribute to world economy", he added.

The combined economies of the five countries accounted for 16 percent of the global total in 2010, and their trade volume is 15 percent, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.