The
road to formalising Russia’s WTO accession appears to
be nearing an end, with the country’s Parliament set to examine the accession
accord on 4 July. Meanwhile, the debate on whether to lift Cold War-era
restrictions on US-Russia trade has ramped up in Washington, after bipartisan
legislation geared at making Moscow a full trading partner was introduced in
the US Senate on Tuesday amid burgeoning questions regarding Russia’s human
rights record.
Moscow sends accession accord to Duma; vote expected within weeks
Russia’s
entry into the global trade body was formally approved by WTO members last
December at the global trade body’s ministerial conference, following an
18-year accession bid. However, the accord must be ratified domestically by the
end of this summer in order for Russia to accede to the now-155 member trade
club, which saw Samoa and Montenegro officially join its ranks earlier this
year.
In a
key step in the process, last Thursday the Russian government approved the WTO
accession package and passed it on to the State Duma - the lower chamber of the
Russian Parliament - for ratification. Assuming the accord passes, Moscow will
formally become a WTO member 30 days after ratification.
Medvedev
has publicly urged that ratification not be delayed, lest Moscow miss the
deadline for ratifying its accession deal and have to restart the process to
negotiate WTO entry.
Bill repealing Jackson-Vanik amendment introduced
in the Senate
With
Russia’s WTO accession package largely expected to receive Parliament’s seal of
approval in a matter of weeks, questions have been flying in Washington as to
whether and when the US will repeal a decades-old law that denies most-favoured nation (MFN) status for those countries that
restrict freedom of emigration.
Although
the US has waived application of the legislation - known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment - on Russia since the early 1990s, some
fear that leaving the original law in place could put US exporters at a serious
disadvantage compared to their European and Asian counterparts, who unlike the
US would immediately enjoy the benefits of Moscow’s WTO membership.
US-Russia
trade is relatively small, with US government data placing Moscow as
Washington’s twentieth largest trading partner in goods, with US$42.9 billion
in total bilateral goods trade last year. The Washington-based Peterson
Institute for International Economics has estimated that Russia’s WTO accession
could cause US exports to double from US$9 billion to US$19 billion over the
next five years, assuming that Washington removes its trade restrictions on
Moscow.
To
that end, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat from the US
state of Montana who has championed the repeal of the Russia-focused trade
restrictions, introduced a bill in his chamber on Tuesday that would establish
MFN status, or Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), with Moscow. The
legislation was backed by three other senators, from both major political
parties.
US
President Barack Obama, for his part, has also been a vocal supporter of
removing the trade restrictions. In Congress’ other chamber, the Ways and Means
Committee - the House of Representatives’ counterpart to the Senate Finance
Committee - is scheduled to hold its first hearing on repealing Jackson-Vanik on 20 June.