A member of staff adds the Russian Federation name to seats for delegation members
before the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade
Organization, at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Geneva,
Switzerland, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The WTO agreed Friday to allow Russia
to become its newest member, giving a critical boost to the ailing economy
of its biggest trading partner, the European Union.. (AP
Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini) According to AP, it reported Russia
was approved on Friday to join the World Trade Organization after nearly
two decades marathon in order to boost its economy and that moreover, its
biggest trading partner, the European Union is currently at financial
turmoil.

The vote by international trade ministers also provides a measure of
victory for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who faces popular
discontent after allegations of fraud in the recent parliamentary
elections.
Russia has been the only member of the Group of 20 leading world economies
still outside the 153-nation WTO. Once it formally joins presumably early
next year after ratification from the Russian Duma Moscow will be subject
to the Geneva-based body's rules for international trade and settling
disputes.

The 27-nation EU is Russia's biggest trading partner for agriculture,
fuels, mining and manufacturing. The EU buys 52 percent of Russia's
exports, including the fossil fuels that keep Europe running. Russia, in
turn, is third-biggest customer for EU exports, after the U.S. and China.
Russia's WTO membership is expected to quickly increase EU exports by some
$5.2 billion a year, EU trade officials say. Under the agreement, Russians
will be able to buy European-made goods at far lower prices and to sell
their oil and gas more efficiently.
Nigeria's finance minister Olusegun Aganga chaired the WTO conference,
where international representatives agreed by consensus to accept Russia's
bid. He noted that Russia was the last of the so-called BRICS emerging
countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to join
the trade body.
"That tells you how important the WTO is," he told The Associated Press.
Elvira Nabiullina, Russia's minister of economic development, hailed the
deal and said Russia is ready to help counter the risks of the global
economic slowdown. "We are ready to counter these risks actively," she
told WTO trade ministers.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the development "represents a
great cause for celebration."
"Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization is good for Russia, we
believe it's good for the United States, and we believe it's good for all
members of the WTO," he said. Russia has spent 18 years trying to join the
WTO.

It is firsttime to reach bilateral agreements with more than a third of
WTO's members. Moscow agreed to provide annual reports to other members on
its continuing privatization, for example, and to gradually lower its
average tariff ceiling to 7.8 percent from its current 10 percent.
A final hurdle to joining the WTO was the Swiss-mediated deal that Russia
signed with Georgia, its neighbor with whom it waged a brief war in 2008,
to allow a neutral company to monitor all trade between the two nations.
Russia's membership takes effect 30 days after it notifies WTO that the
Russian Duma has ratified the move.
The vote Friday gives Putin a victory to point to at a time when
protesters are demanding a rerun of a disputed parliamentary poll on Dec.
4 that enabled Putin's United Russia party to retain a slim majority of
seats. But it's unlikely that WTO membership will end Russian dissidents'
grievances with Putin and his party, which has long been accused of
corruption.

In the longer run, experts say, WTO membership would provide a boost for
Russia's heavily state-managed economy by giving outside investors more
confidence because the nation would be subject to international trade
rules.

"The EU has high expectations of Russia as a responsible partner able to
respect rules," EU trade chief Karel De Gucht told the WTO.
International Chamber of Commerce secretary-general Jean-Guy Carrier said
WTO membership will change the way the world does business with Russia.
"First of all, (by) making sure that there is a clear set of rules for
investors in Russia, for companies operating in Russia, and for Russian
companies also that want to export to the rest of the world," he said.
"I expect it will have effects similar to the opening of China 10 years
ago, where there was a tremendous amount of new economic activity into
China itself in terms of investment."