MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. A full-fledged discussion on reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) within the framework of the G20 group of nations will be possible only after a ‘position paper’ is prepared by the G20 chair country, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak has told TASS in an interview.
"As far as the WTO is concerned, the Japanese presidency excluded the WTO reform issue from the ‘financial track.’ However, a full-fledged discussion on this matter within the G20 framework requires a special report, or, as they call it, a position paper on the subject. Without it, the discussion will either not take place at all, or will go off in different directions. As far as I know, no position report has been prepared on the situation in the WTO and the international trade sector," he said.
The minister also said that a meeting of G20 trade and economy ministers was convoked to discuss the WTO reform issue. "The only thing known about the results of its work is that there simply were no results," he said.
According to the Russian official, no substantial discussions on the issue were held during a meeting of G20 finance ministers and chiefs of national central banks.
"It is the chair country’s duty to draft a position paper. However, the Japanese side has chosen to raise other issues, which are unlikely to bring about controversy," Storchak said.
On June 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the confirmation by all G20 members of their willingness to work on the WTO reform as an important outcome of the group’s summit. There are no breakthrough decisions, that’s true. Nevertheless, for example, the participants confirmed their desire to continue to work on improving the global trade system, including on reforming the WTO," he told reporters at a news conference following the summit.
Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin also said he expected no practical decisions to be made during the summit. He said that during the first session of the summit, participants spoke in favor of searching for a new and more efficient format of the WTO work. According to Oreshkin, his counterparts from Europe, Canada and China have put forward some proposals, but there have been no consolidated stance on the issue so far.