On August 22, 2012, Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The country has been trying to become a full member of the association for the longest time, and the negotiation process took a total of more than 17 years.

“This outcome of lengthy and difficult negotiations is beneficial both for Russia and our future partners... It is important to prevent the globalization of local and regional crisis phenomena, to continue steps towards economic liberalization on the basis of clear and common rules for all... Russia is ready to make the maximum contribution to this work” - said in 2011 the country's President Dmitry Medvedev.

Note that the WTO was founded in January 1995.

The organization replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded back in 1947 to restore the global economy after World War II.

The main goal of the WTO is to liberalize international trade and settle trade and political disputes.

The association operates on the basis of such principles as the provision of most favored nation treatment (MFN) by the participating countries, the resolution of trade disputes through consultations and negotiations, and the transparency of trade policy.

To date, the members of the organization are 164 states that control 98% of world trade.

“The leadership of the USSR decided to join the GATT in 1979, as the structure began to gain more and more strength.

However, we were refused negotiations, since in December of the same year, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.

After the collapse of the USSR, an application to join the organization was already submitted on behalf of Russia in 1993.

Meanwhile, in 1994, the GATT was reformatted, and negotiations began only with the beginning of the functioning of the WTO - in 1995, ”Alexey Portansky, professor at the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics at the Higher School of Economics, told RT.

According to the specialist, Russia was one of the last major economies to join the WTO, and the country's negotiating record was large.

This was one of the main reasons for such a long process of joining the organization, Portansky explained.

In addition, as the expert noted, in 2008 the negotiations were slowed down by the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia.

Then Western diplomats refused to make contact with the Russian side.

However, already in December 2011, an official protocol on Russia's admission to the WTO was signed, and eight months later the country became the 156th member of the organization.

“The world economy is going through hard times today.

During this period, there are always risks of increased protectionism.

By joining the WTO, we are ready to actively counteract such risks.

Therefore, for us, the completion of negotiations is not a finish, but a start, ”Elvira Nabiullina, who was in charge of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation at that time, said after signing the protocol.

In the WTO itself, Russia's accession was called a mutually beneficial deal.

As Pascal Lamy, who headed the organization at the time, noted, the approved decision was intended to strengthen the country's integration into the world economy.

“It (Russia's entry into the association. -

RT

) strengthens and opens up new trading opportunities.

It assigns the WTO “quality mark” to the Russian Federation,” Lamy emphasized.

According to him, the WTO could not have become a multilateral international association without Russia's participation.

Against this background, many states were interested in accepting the Russian Federation into the trade group, experts emphasize.

Without unnecessary barriers

Accession to the WTO allowed Russia to eliminate many tariff barriers and reduce a number of customs duties, as a result of which the country received free access to all foreign markets of other members of the association.

In particular, we are talking about the states of the European Union, China and the United States.

As the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Sergey Katyrin told RT, Moscow was faced with the task of increasing the volume of non-resource non-energy exports and integrating into international value chains.

At the same time, many experts feared that national producers would be seriously affected by the influx of imported products.

“The interim results of the first ten years of Russia's membership in the WTO show that the range of our exports has expanded by about a quarter.

Deliveries of basic industrial goods abroad increased by a third, and the export of agricultural products doubled.

At the same time, many manufacturers' fears that WTO accession would lead to an excessive increase in imports did not come true,” Katyrin noted.

According to him, the use of WTO instruments by Russia to protect the interests of its exporters in foreign markets has become no less important.

Thus, the country was given the opportunity to challenge discriminatory restrictions on Russian goods and services.

“Russia began to actively use these new opportunities for itself from the very first days of joining the organization.

Moscow won all the disputes significant for the country, being independent and self-sufficient in all matters.

Unlike the vast majority of countries in the world, as part of our participation in these procedures, we did not resort to the services of foreign consultants and relied on domestic personnel,” Katyrin emphasized.

At the same time, Russia has received much less from WTO membership than was originally expected, experts admit.

According to Alexei Portansky, the main advantage was the removal of discriminatory barriers for Russian goods and services in foreign markets, but the country could have received much more benefits if not for internal reasons.

“When we joined the WTO, it was assumed that a deep modernization of the economy should begin, aimed at creating production facilities for final products, but this did not happen.

WTO membership is justified if the country produces a sufficient range of finished products, but we have not started the process of modernization.

Therefore, the benefit was limited,” Portansky explained.

"We are not going to slam the door"

In 2022, after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, a number of WTO member states decided to cancel the most favored nation treatment in trade with Russia.

It should be noted that this mechanism traditionally allows the participants of the organization to trade with each other on preferential terms - at reduced duties.

As Aleksey Portansky noted, the abolition of the MFN is contrary to the obligations of any WTO member country.

At the same time, Western countries can use loopholes in the rules of the organization and use this option "in the interests of national security," the specialist explained.

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Denis Mamin / EyeEm

In response to Western sanctions pressure, in March, deputies from the A Just Russia – For Truth faction submitted to the State Duma a draft on the country’s withdrawal from the WTO.

The materials noted that this measure is necessary to protect the national interests of the country and pursue a protectionist policy.

However, the real withdrawal of Russia from the WTO is not discussed yet.

This, in particular, was announced in mid-June by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin.

“We will not take these steps, because no matter how difficult it was in the WTO, we entered the organization consciously on the basis of the benefits that we expected and received.

We are not going to slam the door, ”RIA Novosti quotes Pankin.

Economists interviewed by RT also consider it inappropriate for Russia to leave the organization.

According to experts, such a decision would bring more harm to the country's economy than good.

“Out of 164 WTO member countries, about 120 states do not apply sanctions.

They are fully traded within the rules of the organization.

At the same time, we also continue to interact with countries that support sanctions.

If we made a decision to withdraw from the WTO, then this would have, for example, negative consequences for the Eurasian Economic Union.

The fact is that the trade rules of the EAEU are completely based on the WTO, and in this case, no one would follow us, ”Portansky explained.

Sergey Katyrin adheres to a similar point of view.

According to him, Russia's withdrawal from the WTO would call into question not only the continued existence of the EAEU, but also Russia's participation in the already concluded free trade agreements.

At the same time, Moscow would lose part of the export markets and the ability to protect the interests of its exporters, the head of the CCI added.

“The WTO is an imperfect organization, but the problem is that there is no other like it.

It’s easy to get out of it, but at the same time, not a single WTO member country has yet left, and returning back, even if the foreign policy and economic situation improves, will be even more difficult than before, ”concluded Katyrin.