Customs Union countries may join WTO separately
MOSCOW. July 10. KAZINFORM /Arnur Rakhymbekov/ - Russia, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan will perhaps decide to join the World Trade Organization simultaneously but not within the Customs Union. Such opinion was expressed by Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Assistant to the Russian President who took part at the G8 Summit in Italy.
The expert talks resulted in a decision that accession of the Customs Union to the WTO is a complex and many-year procedure. «Another scenario is that the three Customs Union member countries will join the Organization in line», - A. Dvorkovich said. He also emphasized the succession might be simultaneous. «We must find such a variant which will prevent the succession to turn into a long process», -he added.
According to Dvorkovich, representatives of two member countries of the Customs Union will be present at the talks on entry of a third country into the WTO, in order to clarify the positions of the parties and come to terms.
The Customs Union Treaty will become effective as of January 1, 2010.
Russian experts believe that the position of Moscow on joining the WTO might have changed after the visit of U.S. President Barak Obama to Russia. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said that Russia's accession to the WTO as part of the Customs Union is "impossible" and will cause nothing but protraction. He also said that Russia plans to consider the proposal to join the Organization independently.