Russia’s upper house of parliament ratified the agreement to join the World Trade Organisation despite widespread opposition inside the country.
The Federation Council voted 144 to four on Wednesday to approve the protocol on WTO entry, which took Russia 18 years to negotiate.
The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, endorsed the document last week after a fierce debate, with all the three opposition parties voting against the bill. They argued that membership in the WTO would kill Russia’s manufacturing industries and agriculture.
Russia’s apex Constitutional Court had earlier rejected a petition against the WTO entry filed by more than 130 opposition MPs who claimed the terms on which Russia was entering the WTO would undermine its economic security.
Public support for the WTO has slipped from 59 per cent nine years ago to 39 per cent today, a recent poll revealed.
Economy Minister Andrei Belousov said that the country would cut import tariffs He revealed the country could lose up to 445 billion roubles ($14 billion) over the next two years due to reduced import duties. But the losses would be balanced by increased trade, he added.
Critics said Russia is entering the WTO on significantly worse terms than other emerging economies did. For instance, India has the average import tariffs of 13.7 per cent, whereas Russia has agreed to cut its import tariffs from an average 9.5 per cent now to 6 per cent by 2015.
The WTO-inform analytical centre has estimated that by 2020 agricultural output in Russia would decline by 28 per cent and the manufacturing sector would shrink by one-third.
The Russian government hopes the WTO entry would facilitate modernisation of the country’s commodity-dependent economy. However, WTO-Informs says it will perpetuate Russia’s status as a raw material
appendage of the global economy because the resource extracting industries are the only sector that will not be affected by WTO entry terms.
Russia will become a WTO member 30 days after the bill is signed by the President.
