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Russian permanent mission to WTO may appear within 2-3 months

On August 22, 2012, Russia officially became the 156th member of the World Trade Organisation

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s permanent mission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may be created within 2-3 months, Director of the Trade Negotiations Department of the Economic Development Ministry Maxim Medvedkov believes. He made this statement in an interview to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper. On Thursday it is exactly one year since Russia joined the WTO.

“We have not yet established an independent permanent mission, as we have ‘stumbled’ over several administrative-bureaucratic problems, but, I hope, they be settled within two-three months,” Medvedkov said, adding that “so far its functions are performed by our staff members in the ‘big’ Russian permanent mission to international organisations in Geneva.”

According to Maxim Medvedkov, most organisational decisions were made last year. “The head agency, responsible for the WTO has been determined, the tasks for other agencies have been set. The staff size has been increased,” Medvedkov said. “An interdepartmental commission that deals with the issues of adaptation of sectors to the WTO membership conditions has been created. Interaction with the Eurasian Economic Commission on all WTO issues has been established.”

On August 22, 2012, Russia officially became the 156th member of the World Trade Organisation. The WTO, having the status of a specialised UN institution, started functioning on January 1, 1995. The WTO is the only international body playing a supervisory role in world trade.

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