Skip ITR banner
The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. logo and tagline - Essential information. Expert analysis. International Trade Reporter Home Page
BNA HomeProduct CatalogContact BNAAbout BNASearchFREE Trials!
Skip left navigation
ITR Home Page
Table of Contents
Top Story Archive
Sample Issue
Current Report Archive
Export Reference Manual
Import Reference Manual
Decisions
Feedback
WTO Ministerial Draft
ITR Free Trial

Home > Top Story Archive > September 4, 2008

Top Story

The following story is from the September 4 issue of International Trade Reporter
Current Reports:

WTO

Russia Plans to Review Commitments
Made in Effort to Gain WTO Membership

MOSCOW--Russia indicated Sept. 2 that it plans to reconsider some of its earlier commitments which were made in a bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Russia's military action in Georgia has led to fallout in talks with the European Union and brought growing uncertainty to Russia's bid to join the WTO (see related report in this issue).

"Russia will not be reviewing basic bilateral agreements concluded during WTO accession talks," said Maxim Medvedkov, head of the trade talks department of the Russian Economic Development Ministry. However, Russia plans to reconsider agreements on some goods, concluded in response to promises by our partners to support Russia's WTO entry, he was quoted as saying in the ministry's press-service statement released on Sept. 2.

"Promises must be honored," Medvedkov said, according to the statement. If promises given to us are not honored then we also have a freedom of maneuver, he argued. Medvedkov also said Russia would reconsider 10 agreements, but declined to name these deals.

Russian officials had previously expected to join WTO by the end of this year. But following sharp disagreements with the West over Georgia's crisis, on Aug. 25 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that Russia saw "no benefits" in WTO membership.

Recognition of Breakaways Critical

Russia's recognition of the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia marks an indication that Moscow is reconsidering its bid to join the World Trade Organization, according to Russian officials.

On Aug. 26, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced he signed a decree to formally recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, despite warnings that the Russian action in the region could put the country's WTO entry at risk.

"We have been honoring the commitments" Russia made during WTO accession talks years ago, but have gained no advantages, Putin was quoted as saying in the government's press-service statement released Aug. 25. Meanwhile, some sectors of the economy, notably agriculture, have been adversely affected, he said.

Putin said Russia should not abandon its "strategic" move towards the WTO, but should continue entry talks. But he also urged that more be done to protect Russian agricultural producers.

Suspend Some Agreements

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told the Cabinet meeting that Russia would continue WTO entry talks, but would suspend some trade agreements it concluded at earlier stages of the WTO entry process. He declined to name these agreements, and stated that Russia would resume honoring the agreements only on WTO entry, according to the statement. Shuvalov also said the Russian government does not expect WTO accession during the coming year.

Putin's and Shuvalov's statements came in response to remarks by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. In an interview in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, released Aug. 23, Gutierrez said Russian actions in Georgia had put the country's WTO bid at risk.

Russia's WTO negotiators have previously said they expected to complete the country's WTO accession talks by the end of 2008.

Poultry Import Ban

Subsequently, Russia's agricultural and veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor excluded 19 American poultry producers from further supplies to Russia beginning Sept. 1. Russian officials insisted these poultry-processing plants did not meet Russian food safety standards.

Russia's agricultural and veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor named 19 American poultry producers from which imports into Russia will be banned.

Beginning Sept. 1, 2008, the U.S. poultry plants labeled P-00003, P-164, P-190, P-239, P-244, P-247, P-519, P-522, P-550, P-667, P-727, P-758, P-6510, P-6616, P-7101, P-7769, P-8727, P-19128 and P-20979 will be removed from the list of American plants, approved to supply poultry to the Russian Federation, Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement on Aug. 29.

Products from these poultry-processing plants do not meet Russian food safety standards, Russia's Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeyev was quoted as saying in the ministry's statement on Aug. 29.

Last year, Russian regulators warned these 19 American poultry plants of irregularities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sept. 2. "During the past year, nothing has been done so far," and we had to remove these plants from a list of poultry exporters into Russia, Lavrov said in televised remarks.

The plants mentioned in Rosselkhoznadzor statement include Mountaire Farms of Delaware, Milllsboro, Del.; Choctaw Maid Farms, Forest, Miss.; Jennie-O Turkey Store Barron, Wisc.; House of Raeford Farms, Raeford, N.C.; New Oxford Foods, LLC, New Oxford, Pa.; Sanderson Farms, Hazlehurst, Miss.; Wayne Farm,s Laurel, Miss.; Sanderson Farms, Collins, Miss.; Peterson Farms, Decatur, Ark.; Mountaire Farms, Selbyville, Del.; Simmons Foods, Southwest City, Mo.; Tyson Foods, Carthage, Miss.; Peco Foods, Bay Springs, Miss.; Peco Foods, Sebastopol, Miss.; Tyson Foods, Clarksville, Ark.; Farbest Foods, Huntingburg, Ind.; Butterball, LLC, Carthage, Mo.; Case Farms of North Carolina, Dudley, N.C.; and Simmons Foods, Siloam Springs, Ark.

By Sergei Blagov

Contact the Webmaster at webmaster@bna.com
 1801 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202 - Phone: 1-800-372-1033

Copyright © The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.