Europe

EU still favors Russia WTO entry despite recent disputes

(AP)
Updated: 2007-05-04 20:53

The European Union still favors an early entry by Russia into the World Trade Organization, the bloc said Friday, despite a number of disputes between Moscow and several EU nations.

"The EU is strongly committed to seeing Russia inside the WTO ... A small number of issues remain to be resolved," EU spokesman Peter Power said.

A recent EU strategy paper said that if these issues are not solved by the planned May 18 EU-Russia summit in Samara, Russia, the EU should use the meeting to "push for progress as a matter of priority."

"We should make clear that the EU is ready to support early conclusion of Russia's WTO accession, but not at any price, and bilateral problems and disregard for the implementation of existing commitments will be a major impediment," the document says.

The 27-nation EU is involved in a number of disputes with Russia ranging from human rights to economy. Poland is blocking talks on a new EU-Russia partnership accord aiming at forging closer energy ties because of a Russian ban on Polish meat, which Moscow has maintained since late 2005 because of alleged health concerns.

EU-Russia relations also took a hit after activists blockaded the Estonian Embassy in Moscow for several days in protest of last week's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from the center of Estonia's capital.

Estonian authorities' removal of the monument in Tallinn also provoked riots in the Baltic country, mainly by ethnic Russians.

Russian export duties and new Russian laws on trade barriers, which the EU considers incompatible with WTO rules, were among the main sticking points, Power said.

"It will certainly come up for discussion at the EU-Russia summit. Our negotiations with Russia will continue up to that summit," Power said, adding, however, that Russia's WTO membership was "in both Russia's and the EU's interest."

The EU has said Russia should be drawn into the international trading system to diversify its economy away from its reliance on lucrative oil and gas revenues.

Power said WTO entry would help Russia carry out domestic economic reforms and would provide a basis for closer economic ties with the EU.

Russia, the only major economy outside the WTO, has said it would like to join the 150-member organization this year.

It still has to reach agreement with its tiny ex-Soviet neighbor Georgia, to meet requirements for membership in the group which sets global trade rules. Any member can demand a bilateral deal with an applicant.