Zee Beam News

22.05.2006 MosNews - Senior European official said on Monday, May 22, that joining the World Trade Organization is in Russia's interest, especially because it could earn about $19 billion from the move. Kimmo Sasi, who presented a report on the Russian economic situation for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said that Russia's WTO membership could substantially strengthen the status of other members of the organization and would be in the interests of the Russian Federation itself. He said Russia would gain an estimated $19 billion from joining the WTO, which would, furthermore, improve the living standards of virtually all strata of the population. Sasi did not explain where the $19 billion in question would come from. He added that accession to this global trading body would also liberalize markets and provide broad access for foreign investors to the country's telecoms, banking, transport and insurance sectors, while tariffs would be halved. In addition, Kimmo Sasi said that Russia's accession to the WTO would give it a better legal position if it had to deal with anti-dumping procedures. Sasi said all of that combined would enable Russia to compensate substantially for a possible loss in labor efficiency that could result from reduction in state subsidies for Russian enterprises in the agro-industrial complex and on foreign markets.