Zee Beam News

12.12.2005 MosNews - Former vice-president of the World Bank and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for economics, Joseph Stiglitz, said on Monday, Dec. 12 that the position taken by the United States in WTO accession negotiations with Russia is unjust. Stiglitz was in Hong Kong for the sixth ministerial WTO conference and gave an interview to Russia’s RIA Novosti. “I would call the thing that the Americans are doing in negotiations with Russia extortion at the gate,” the expert said. “They are trying to use this situation in order to get preferential treatment for themselves, which I consider to be highly unjust,” Stiglitz stressed. The expert also noted that accession to the World Trade Organization is in Russia’s interests. “WTO accession is doubtlessly in Russia’s interest. Overall Russia should take part in as many international organizations as possible,” the U.S. expert said. In his opinion all of the countries that want to join the international trade organization should be allowed to do so without any additional conditions presented by its old members. Stiglitz is in Hong Kong for the presentation of his new book “Fair Trade for All”. He is among many experts and officials who forecast a bleak outcome for World Trade Organization talks that begin here on Tuesday, Dec. 13. It is expected that during the conference Russia will hold a next round of negotiations with a number of countries that have so far failed to sign bilateral agreements allowing Russia to join the WTO. Earlier a source in the Russian government told RIA Novosti that Russia’s accession to the WTO may be delayed by as much as a year if Moscow and Washington fail to agree on key points of dispute — level of customs tariffs for passenger aircraft and access to Russia’s financial services market. “If we don’t reach an agreement, this will delay Russia’s WTO accession to anywhere from six months to a year. But most likely it will be for a year,” the agency’s source said. He said that at the present time Russian and U.S. negotiators are holding consultations on a daily basis, but have been unable to reach agreement on key issues. The United States continues to insist that Russia removes all import tariffs on aircraft and that U.S. banks and insurance companies are allowed to open direct branches in Russia.