On the evening of January 23 Andrey Evdochenko On the air of Belarus 1 TV channel, he said that the expectations from the negotiation process were confirmed. According to him, the parties confirmed their mutual interest in Belarus' accession to the WTO.

Intex-press figured out what kind of organization it is, why it is worth joining it and what needs to be done for this.

What is WTO?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international economic organization dealing with multilateral regulation of trade in goods, services and intellectual property.

The organization performs the following functions: monitoring the implementation of trade agreements, resolving trade disputes between members of the organization, monitoring the trade policy of members of the organization, organizing and ensuring trade negotiations on new WTO rules, admitting new members.

How many countries are in the WTO?

The WTO has 164 member countries. Of these, 11 post-Soviet countries. The first of the post-Soviet countries to join the WTO was Kyrgyzstan (1998), and the last one was Kazakhstan (2015). Four post-Soviet countries remain outside the organization: Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

How long has Belarus been negotiating with the WTO?

Belarus has been negotiating to join the WTO since 1993. From the same year Belarus has an observer status.

When can Belarus join the WTO?

Possibly in 2017.

This was reported Vladimir Ulakhovich, Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Main Air program on Belarus 1: “It is always a thankless task to name dates, but I do not exclude that before the end of this year. The next round of negotiations will take place very soon, I think after that we will be able to talk more precisely about the timing.”

What needs to be done to join the WTO?

To join the WTO, a state must submit a memorandum through which the WTO reviews the trade and economic policy of the organization concerned.

Vladimir Ulakhovich said: “In many ways, we are already working on the principles of the WTO, because the Eurasian Economic Union is built on the same principles.” The only thing that, according to the chairman of the BelCCI, needs to be done is to take all transitional measures to protect financial institutions, agricultural producers, as is done in all countries that are members of the WTO. Vladimir Ulakhovich believes that there are no big barriers for Belarus' accession to the WTO now.

While Belarus is only negotiating, it is difficult to specifically say what conditions the country will have to fulfill in order to become a WTO member. The conditions for Russia's accession to the WTO have been discussed for 18 years. The main obligations that she had to fulfill were the following:

facilitating the access of goods of WTO member countries to the Russian market by reducing import tariffs for industrial and agricultural products;

opening of the domestic market of services for foreign competitors;

providing equal protection to owners of intellectual property rights through the legal procedures adopted in the WTO;

elimination or mitigation of restrictions on attracting foreign investment to the country, as well as expanding opportunities for Russian investors in WTO member countries.

In addition, Russia has carried out a full-scale reform of foreign trade legislation.

Why would it be beneficial for Belarus to join the WTO?

According to the Deputy Minister of Economy Anton Kudasov, with accession to the WTO, the export of Belarusian goods will increase, investments will come to the country.

The country's enterprises believe that joining the World Trade Organization will contribute to the economic development of Belarus. Enterprises expect the industry in which they operate to become more attractive for foreign direct investment.

Director of the Department for Admission of New WTO Members Chiedu Osakwe in an interview with Naviny.by, he noted that the WTO is a brand. And when a country joins the organization, it becomes a “brand” itself. “Therefore, the biggest benefit of WTO membership is that it improves the business climate,” the director said.

What troubles can Belarus expect?

Head of the Department of Economic Theory of the Academy of Management under the President of Belarus Irina Novikova last March, she told Naviny.by that when joining the WTO, entire industries could collapse:

“If we join the WTO, we will have cheap imported goods, but we may not have jobs to pay for them. Entire industries can collapse.

According to her, first of all, we are talking about agriculture and engineering.

WTO membership will radically change and worsen the situation of agriculture in Belarus, says Grodno State University professor Arkady Moroz.

According to him, the level of assistance to agriculture in our country was lower than in developed countries. As a result of accession to the WTO, this gap will not decrease.

And this means that when the country's food market opens for imports, it will be very difficult for our agricultural producers to compete with foreign suppliers, the professor believes.

World Trade Organization (English World Trade Organization - WTO)- an international economic organization that creates certain conditions for trade on the territory of the participating countries.

History of the WTO

The WTO was established on January 1, 1995 to regulate trade and political relations between member countries. It was formed on the basis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded in 1947. The very historical fact of the creation of the World Trade Organization took place in the city of Marrakech (Morocco country) in April 1994. As a result, the agreement of countries on the creation of uniform rules for trade is called the "Marrakesh Agreement". However, the start date of the organization is January 01, 1995, so this date is recognized as the date of creation. At the date of commencement of the functioning of the WTO, 76 countries were members.

The main goal of creating a world trade organization was to introduce common principles of trade on the world stage for all participating countries. However, each of the participants in this association has the right to introduce additional control measures for goods entering their markets.

The application of additional conditions for goods is introduced, to a greater extent, if there is a crisis situation in the country in any sphere of production. And also this principle is applied in case of violation of the WTO partnership principles themselves.

Despite more than twenty years of experience, the WTO has not found favor in a number of countries. The main reason for this was the complexity of the system and structure of the world trade organization itself.

Many enterprises do not see all the possible benefits, and also cannot fully appreciate the global position of the system as a whole. At the same time, for the participating countries, this system provides not only a single market on common rules, but also a considerable list of rights for each participant in trade relations.

To date, the headquarters of the WTO is located in Geneva (country - Switzerland). WTO Director General - Roberto Azevedo (Brazilian economist).

Principles of the World Trade Organization

• No matter how difficult the WTO rules may seem, in fact, they have three basic principles on which the entire single trade system is built, the most favored nation principle (MFN). This principle says that there can be no discrimination between participating countries.

For example, if goods are imported from the Gambia (serial number 125 in the unified register of WTO member countries) and France (serial number 69 in the unified register of WTO member countries) to the territory of Poland (serial number 99 in the unified register of WTO member countries), then the conditions for the import and registration of these goods will be exactly the same;

• The principle of nationalism. The most controversial principle It assumes that the conditions for foreign goods, provided that they are imported by WTO members, will be the same as for goods produced in the territory of the host country. However, the terms of participation in the WTO does not prohibit the introduction of procedures that simplify the system of selling national goods. But such rules, most often, apply only to their own manufacturing enterprises. Thereby confirming that this principle of the world trade organization is not perfect;
• The principle of transparency. This principle is the basis of all legal agreements of WTO members. He says that each participating country must ensure the full accessibility of other participants to its regulatory and legislative framework in the context of trade in its territory. The participating countries are obliged to create information centers where, in an accessible form, each interested party could explain to itself all aspects of the legislative regulation of trade relations that are of interest to it.

In order to join the WTO, the country's leadership needs to go through a very lengthy and scrupulous procedure, on average it lasts about five years. The main requirement for potential participating countries is to bring international trade to the standards prescribed in the agreement signed at the Uruguay Round.

At the first stage, the economy and trade policy of the country as a whole are assessed, after which lengthy negotiations take place on the potential benefits of the parties from joining the new market to the common trading system.

In conclusion, if the parties have come to a mutual agreement, the new participating country signs an agreement on the proposed terms of trade, and it is also assigned an individual unchanging number. Also, a new member country is obliged to pay for membership in this organization in accordance with the current tariffs.

In order to withdraw from the WTO, it is necessary to send a written notification to the Director General of the World Trade Organization, in which it is necessary to indicate your desire to leave this association. After six months, membership will be considered terminated. It is worth noting that in the history of the existence of the WTO there was not a single statement with such a petition.

Functions and tasks of the WTO

The main functions of the WTO are as follows:

• monitoring the commercial policies of the participating states;
• control over compliance with all contractual conditions and relations concluded under the auspices of the WTO;
• organization of negotiations between WTO member countries;
• provision of member countries with information aids within the framework of the WTO program;
• maintaining diplomatic relations with other countries and commonwealths for the development of trade relations;
• resolution of disputes.

Based on the listed functions of the WTO, we can safely say that the main task of the World Trade Organization is to organize the interaction of member countries among themselves, as a result of which there are controversial issues that may arise at the stage of interaction between several parties.

The legal basis of all documents issued by the WTO are sixty agreements that prescribe the three basic principles of the WTO in various forms and sections.

Structure of the WTO

Since already in 2015 there were 162 participating countries, while the countries are united by one single criterion - trade, while these are countries with different national languages, religions, economic levels, etc.

Therefore, it is so important that all decisions are made purely in order to achieve material well-being, without the use of any targeting.

In order to make this or that decision, large meetings are held in which all participants try to reach a common denominator. The method of open (or closed) voting is also allowed, by means of determining the majority. But this method has never been used in the history of the WTO.

Members of the Ministerial Conference have the greatest number of rights in the World Trade Organization, while members of this structural unit are required to convene meetings at least once every two years.

1. For the first time this conference was held in 1996 in Singapore (country - Singapore). The agenda of the meeting was the approval of the planned goals and objectives, as well as the confirmation of the basic principles of the WTO.
2. The second time the conference was held in 1998 in Geneva and was dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the GATT (the community on the basis of which the World Trade Organization was organized).
3. The third conference was held in 1999 in Seattle (USA) and was called upon to form new goals to determine a new direction for trade, but these negotiations remained fruitless.

The next link in the structure of the WTO, after the Ministerial Conference, is the General Council, which is engaged in daily work on the preparation of standard documents and solving current problems.

The General Council includes ambassadors and heads of delegations of the participating countries, and the frequency of meetings of this structural unit is several times a year. In turn, the General Council is subject to several substructures, between which the main functions of the WTO are divided:

• Commodity Trade Council. Its main function is to ensure that the principles of the WTO are respected at every level of trade among member countries. Also, the described principles must be observed in all documents concluded under the auspices of the WTO;
• Council for Trade in Services. This control unit monitors compliance with the GATS rules, which were spelled out in the relevant agreement. The Council for Trade in Services is subdivided into two main divisions, the Committee on Trade in Financial Services and the Working Group on Professional Services. The staff of this council is expanding every year, and the requirements for WTO member countries are becoming stricter;
• Council on Trade Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In this WTO council, the greatest disputes and conflicts arise, since it is intellectual property that becomes the most controversial object. As in the whole world, in the WTO rules the issue of intellectual property rights has not been fully disclosed, and every time new disputes arise.

If we talk about which of the divisions of the World Trade Organization works directly with all applications from member countries and the public, then this is the WTO secretariat. Several hundred people work in this division. The head of the secretariat is the director general

The responsibility of the secretariat is to organize all the technical aspects that accompany important meetings and meetings, as well as the Ministerial Conference.

Technical support is also provided to countries at the development stage. In addition, specialists of this department analyze the world economy, as well as hold conferences with the media.

Russia in the WTO

In 1995, the authorities of the Russian Federation made a formal request for the right to join the World Trade Organization.

The most difficult stage was the negotiations with the USA, China and the EU countries. However, after Russia supported the countries of Europe in upholding the positions of the Kyoto Protocol, the United States remained the only dissenting member of the WTO.

Negotiations continued with this country for six years. However, after numerous meetings and reforms in the agricultural sector of the Russian economy, a protocol on Russia's accession to the WTO was signed on November 20, 2006.

The signing took place within the framework of the session of the Asia-Pacific Forum in Hanoi (country - Vietnam).

But despite all the work done since 1995, the official entry of the Russian Federation into the WTO was constantly postponed for various reasons, the main of which was the unstable economic situation of the participating countries, which could become even worse after the accession of the Russian market, the assessment of which was extremely low and not stable.

In June 2009, the Russian Federation took a very unusual decision. In the face of Prime Minister Putin V.V. A statement was made that negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO had been terminated. The initiator of stopping consideration of the issue of joining the Russian Federation was the Russian authorities themselves. However, they also decided to start negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO as part of a single Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

By that time, the Georgian authorities had become anti-supporters of Russia.

In October 2011, with the assistance of the Swiss authorities, an agreement was formulated between Russia and Georgia to resolve disputes, which ensured the support of the Russian Federation even from this opponent. The official date of the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization is August 22, 2012 with the assignment of a permanent serial number - 156.

This was not a simple story of Russia's accession to the WTO.

However, it is impossible not to notice that WTO membership did not help in settling trade sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Growth in global merchandise trade is expected to recover this year from the cool levels of 2016, but only if the global economy recovers and with the right combination of policy and economic measures by governments.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) predicts that world trade will grow by 2.4 percent in 2017, however, as deep uncertainty in the short term in economic and political events increases the risk of forecasting, this indicator can range from 1.8 percent to 3.6 percent. In 2018, the WTO forecasts trade growth between 2.1 percent and 4.0 percent.

The unpredictable direction of the global economy in the near future, as well as the lack of clarity on government actions on monetary, fiscal and trade policies, increase the risk that trade activity will be stifled. A surge in inflation will push up interest rates, tightening fiscal policy and imposing trade restrictive measures could undermine ever-higher trade growth over the next two years.

“Weak growth in international trade in recent years largely reflects continued weakness in the global economy. Trade has the potential to bolster global growth if the movement of goods and services across borders continues to be largely free. However, if policymakers try to address domestic job losses with severe import restrictions, trade cannot help spur growth and could even represent resistance to a recovery,” said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo.

“While trade does cause some economic disruption in some communities, its side effects should not be overestimated. They should not obscure the benefits, in terms of growth, development and job creation, we should see trade as part of the solution to economic hardships, not part of the problem.

“In fact, innovation, automation and new technologies are responsible for about 80 percent of manufacturing jobs that have been lost, and there is no question that technological advances are beneficial to most people most of the time. The answer, therefore, is to pursue policies, reap the benefits of trade, and apply horizontal solutions in terms of combating unemployment, which includes ever-higher levels of education and training, and social programs that can quickly help get jobs and a willingness to compete. for the jobs of the future," he said.

More forward WTO forecasts for 2017 and 2018 are based on certain assumptions, but there is a significant risk that expansion will lag these estimates. Achieving these growth rates depends largely on global GDP growth, which is projected to be 2.7 percent this year and 2.8 percent next year. While there are reasonable grounds to believe that such growth can be achieved, expansion along these lines would represent a significant improvement on GDP growth of 2.3 percent in 2016.

In 2016, trade growth was weakest at just 1.3 percent due in part to cyclical factors such as a slowdown in economic activity across the board, but it also reflects deep structural changes in the relationship between trade and economic production. Most resource-intensive trade components of global demand were particularly weak last year. Investment spending has fallen in the US, and China continues to struggle to rebalance the economy from investment to consumption, reducing demand for imports.

Global economic growth has been unbalanced since the financial crisis, but for the first time in several years, all regions of the world economy should experience a synchronized recovery in 2017. This could boost growth and provide additional momentum for trade, the WTO forecast says.

Forecasts, including the WTO World Trade Outlook Indicator, point to stronger trade growth in the first half of 2017, but political turmoil could easily undermine recent positive trends. Unexpected inflation could force central banks to tighten monetary policy faster than they would like, undermining economic growth and trade in the short term.

Other factors, such as the uncertainty surrounding the UK's exit from the European Union, could potentially have an effect. At the same time, the possibility of increased use of restrictive trade policies could affect demand and investment flows and reduce economic growth in the medium to long term. These factors point to a significant risk that trade growth in 2017 will fall to the lower end of the range.

Historically, world merchandise trade has tended to grow about 1.5 times faster than world GDP, although it grew more than twice as fast in the 1990s. However, since the financial crisis, the ratio of trade growth to GDP growth has fallen to about 1:1. Last year was the first time since 2001 that the ratio fell below 1, at a ratio of 0.6:1. The ratio is expected to partially recover in 2017.

More information about trading events in 2016

The unusually low growth of 1.3 percent in global merchandise trade in 2016 was the result of several risk factors converging during the year. Developing countries suffered a sharp 3 percent decline in imports in the first quarter, equivalent to an 11.6 percent annual fall, growth resumed in the second quarter and losses were reversed by the end of the year.

At the same time, imports of developed economies continued to grow, but at a slower pace. Weakness in imports was reflected on the export side with slow growth in shipments from both developed and developing countries.

Over the year, imports of developed countries increased by 2.0 percent, while in developing countries it froze at the level of 0.2 percent. Exports recorded modest growth in developed and developing countries - 1.4 percent in the former and 1.3 percent in the latter.

Trade outlook in 2017 and 2018

Leading indicators of real trade growth rose in the first months of 2017, indicating an increase in trade earlier this year. Container traffic at major ports has recovered from the 2015-16 decline. and reached an all-time high, with an annualized growth of 5.2 percent during the first two months of 2017.

Balancing against positive indicators are clear and significant risks. The rise of anti-globalization sentiment and populist political movements has increased the likelihood that restrictive trade measures will be applied more widely. Narrow measures are unlikely to have a significant impact on global trade and production, but restrictive measures or the abandonment of existing trade agreements could damage consumer and business confidence and undermine international trade and investment.

With inflationary pressures mounting in advanced economies, central banks may also accelerate the pace of monetary tightening, with negative implications for economic growth and trade in the short term. Changes in fiscal policy may also have unpredictable international repercussions that could dampen global economic activity and trade.

In Europe, complex negotiations between the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union will increase uncertainty about the shape of the trade relationship going forward. Public debt in highly indebted EU countries is still an unresolved issue that could come to the fore again within the next two years.

Source - maritime-executive.com

The WTO has been operating since January 1, 1995, the decision to establish it was made at the end of many years of negotiations within the framework of the Uruguay Round of GATT, which ended in December 1993. The WTO was officially formed at a conference in Marrakesh in April 1994, therefore the Agreement Establishing the WTO is also called the Marrakesh Agreement.

While the GATT dealt only with trade in goods, the scope of the WTO is wider: in addition to trade in goods, it also regulates trade in services and trade aspects of intellectual property rights. The WTO has the legal status of a specialized agency of the UN system.

Initially, 77 states joined the WTO, but by the middle of 2003, 146 countries - developed, developing and post-socialist - were its members. The "motley" composition of the WTO member states is reflected in the emblem of this organization itself.

Some ex-Soviet countries also joined the WTO: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan. An important event was the accession to the WTO in December 2001 of China, which is considered one of the most promising participants in world trade. The WTO member countries account for approximately 95% of world trade - in fact, almost the entire world market without Russia. A number of countries have officially expressed their desire to join this organization and have the status of observer states. In 2003 there were 29 such countries, including the Russian Federation and some other post-Soviet states (Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

Tasks of the WTO.

The main task of the WTO is to promote unhindered international trade. The developed countries, on whose initiative the WTO was created, believe that it is economic freedom in international trade that contributes to economic growth and an increase in the economic well-being of people.

It is currently believed that the world trading system should comply with the following five principles.

one). No discrimination in trade.

No state should infringe on any other country by imposing restrictions on the export and import of goods. Ideally, in the domestic market of any country there should be no difference in terms of sale between foreign products and domestic products.

2). Lower trade (protectionist) barriers.

Trade barriers are called factors that reduce the possibility of penetration of foreign goods into the domestic market of any country. These include, first of all, customs duties and import quotas (quantitative restrictions on imports). International trade is also affected by administrative barriers and exchange rate policies.

3). Stability and predictability of the terms of trade.

Foreign companies, investors and governments need to be sure that trade conditions (tariff and non-tariff barriers) will not be changed suddenly and arbitrarily.

4). Stimulation of competitiveness in international trade.

For equal competition of firms from different countries, it is necessary to stop “unfair” methods of competition, such as export subsidies (state assistance to exporting firms), the use of dumping (deliberately low) prices to capture new markets.

five). Benefits in international trade for less developed countries.

This principle partly contradicts the previous ones, but it is necessary to draw into the world economy the underdeveloped countries of the periphery, which obviously cannot at first compete with the developed countries on an equal footing. Therefore, it is considered "fair" to grant special privileges to underdeveloped countries.

In general, the WTO promotes the ideas of free trade (free trade), fighting for the removal of protectionist barriers.

Practical principles of the WTO.

The activities of the WTO are based on three international agreements signed by the majority of states actively participating in world economic relations: the General Agreement on Trade in Goods (GATT) as amended in 1994, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) . The main purpose of these agreements is to provide assistance to firms of all countries involved in export-import operations.

Implementation of WTO agreements, as a rule, brings not only long-term benefits, but also short-term difficulties. For example, lowering protectionist customs tariffs makes it easier for buyers to buy cheaper foreign goods, but can bankrupt domestic producers if they produce high-cost goods. Therefore, according to the rules of the WTO, member states are allowed to carry out the envisaged changes not instantly, but in stages, according to the principle of "progressive liberalization". At the same time, developing states usually have a longer period for the full implementation of their obligations.

Commitment to comply with free trade rules , assumed by all members of the WTO constitute the "multilateral trading" system. Most of the world's states, including all major importing and exporting countries, are members of this system. However, a number of states are not included in it, therefore the system is called "multilateral" (and not "worldwide"). In the long term, as the number of WTO members increases, the "multilateral trading" system should turn into a truly "world trade".

The main functions of the WTO:

– control over the fulfillment of the requirements of the basic WTO agreements;

– creating conditions for negotiations between WTO member countries on foreign economic relations;

– Settlement of disputes between states on issues of foreign economic trade policy;

– control over the policy of the WTO member states in the field of international trade;

- assistance to developing countries;

– cooperation with other international organizations.

Since the texts of agreements are drawn up and signed by a large number of countries participating in foreign trade relations, they often cause debate and controversy. Often the parties entering into negotiations pursue a variety of goals. In addition, agreements and contracts (including those concluded after lengthy WTO-brokered negotiations) often require further interpretation. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the WTO is precisely to serve as a kind of mediator in trade negotiations, to promote the settlement of disputes.

The practice of international economic conflicts has shown that controversial issues are best resolved in the manner established by the WTO, based on a mutually agreed legal framework and providing equal rights and opportunities to the parties. It is for this purpose that the texts of agreements signed within the framework of the WTO must include a clause on the rules for settling disputes. According to the text of the agreement on dispute settlement rules and procedures, “the WTO dispute settlement system is a key element in ensuring the security and predictability of the global trading system.”

WTO Members undertake not to take unilateral action against potential trade violations. Moreover, they undertake to resolve disputes within the framework of the multilateral dispute settlement system and abide by its rules and decisions. Decisions on controversial issues are taken by all member states, usually by consensus, which is an additional incentive to strengthen agreement in the ranks of the WTO.

Organizational structure of the WTO.

WTO governing bodies have three hierarchical levels (Fig. 1).

Strategic decisions at the highest level in the WTO are made by the Ministerial Conference, which meets at least once every two years.

Subordinate to the Ministerial Conference is the General Council, which is responsible for the implementation of current work and meets several times a year at the headquarters in Geneva, consisting of representatives of WTO member countries (usually ambassadors and heads of delegations of member countries). The General Council has two special bodies - for the analysis of trade policy and for the resolution of disputes. In addition, special committees are accountable to the General Council: on trade and development; on trade balance restrictions; budget, finance and administration.

The WTO General Council acts as a dispute resolution body to resolve conflicts arising from the implementation of the underlying agreements. It has exclusive authority to set up panels to deal with specific disputes, to approve the reports submitted by such panels as well as the appellate body, to monitor the implementation of decisions and recommendations, and to authorize retaliatory action in the event of non-compliance with recommendations.

The General Council partially delegates its functions to the three councils at the next level of the WTO hierarchy - the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services and the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

The Council for Trade in Goods, in turn, manages the activities of specialized committees that monitor compliance with the principles of the WTO and the implementation of the GATT-1994 agreements in the field of trade in goods.

The Council for Trade in Services oversees the implementation of the GATS agreement. It includes the Financial Services Trading Committee and the Professional Services Working Group.

The Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, in addition to monitoring the implementation of the TRIPS agreement, also deals with issues related to the international trade in counterfeit goods.

The WTO Secretariat, which is based in Geneva, has about 500 full-time employees; it is headed by the Director General of the WTO (since 2002 - Supachai Panitchpakdi). The WTO Secretariat, unlike similar bodies of other international organizations, does not make independent decisions, since this function is assigned to the member countries themselves. The main responsibilities of the Secretariat are to provide technical support to the various councils and committees of the WTO, as well as the Ministerial Conference, provide technical assistance to developing countries, analyze world trade, and explain WTO provisions to the public and the media. The Secretariat also provides some form of legal assistance in the dispute resolution process and advises governments of countries wishing to become members of the WTO.

Contradictions between WTO member countries.

Although the WTO Charter declares the equality of all member countries, within this organization there are strong objective contradictions between developed and developing countries.

Developing countries have cheap but not very skilled labor. Therefore, the states of the "third world" can mainly import traditional goods - primarily textiles and clothing, agricultural products. Developed countries, protecting their textile and agribusiness industries, restrict imports from developing countries by imposing high customs duties on imported goods. They usually justify their protectionist measures by saying that developing countries are using dumping policies. In turn, developed countries lead the markets for high-tech goods, and now developing countries use protectionist measures against them.

Thus, almost all countries resort to protectionist protection to one degree or another. Therefore, the mutual reduction of protectionist barriers becomes a rather difficult process.

The liberalization of world trade is also hampered by the fact that developed and developing countries differ greatly in economic strength. Therefore, the countries of the "poor South" constantly (and not without reason) suspect the countries of the "rich North" that they want to impose on them a system of world economic relations that is more beneficial to developed than to developing countries. In turn, the developed countries rightly point out that many states openly speculate on their underdevelopment, seeking instead of economic modernization to beg for concessions and benefits in international trade relations.

The asymmetric relationship between developed and developing countries is most clearly seen in the issue of the protection of intellectual property rights. It is, first of all, about the fight against counterfeiting - mainly in the countries of the "third world" - trademarks of well-known companies in developed countries. Naturally, the countries of the “rich North” are much more interested in this struggle than the states of the “poor South”.

The liberalization of world trade is still objectively beneficial for both developed and developing countries. It is known, for example, that the accession of developing countries to the WTO sharply increases the flow of foreign investment into them. Therefore, WTO member countries seek and find compromise solutions to difficult problems.

The WTO development strategy was the gradual attraction of more and more countries to it, but at the same time, the less developed the country's economy is, the longer the period given to it for the full implementation of the principles of free trade.

Benefits for new member countries are clearly visible, primarily in the level of tariffs on imported goods. If we compare the average level of tariffs of the WTO member countries (Table 1) with the conditions under which some countries entered the WTO (Table 2), then the privileged position of new members is noticeable. They are often allowed to apply higher import tariffs than the WTO average; besides, they introduce these tariffs after a multi-year transitional period. Thus, new members of the WTO can immediately benefit from lower duties on exporting their goods abroad, and the difficulties from reducing protectionist protection are mitigated.

Table 2. IMPORT TARIFF REQUIREMENTS FOR SOME WTO ACCESSION COUNTRIES
The country	Year of WTO accession	Tariffs on agricultural goods	Tariffs for other goods
Ecuador	1996	25.8%, transition period 5 years, application of special protective measures for some goods	20,1%
Panama	1997	26.1%, transition period up to 14 years, application of special protective measures for some goods	11.5%, transition period up to 14 years
Latvia	1999	33.6%; transition period 9 years	9.3%, transition period 9 years
Estonia	1999	17.7%, transition period 5 years	6.6%, transition period 6 years
Jordan	2000		25%, transition period 10 years
Oman	2000	30.5%, transition period 4 years	11%, transition period 4 years
Lithuania	2001	mostly 15 to 35% (maximum 50%), transitional period 8 years	mostly 10 to 20% (maximum 30%), transitional period 4 years
Compiled according to the website of Russia and the WTO: www.wto.ru

Fighting against restrictions imposed in developed countries on imports from the "third world", developing countries resort to WTO arbitration and achieve the abolition of "anti-dumping" measures. So, in the first years of the 21st century. India has applied to the WTO to protest against the US and EU, which imposed restrictions on the import of fabrics and clothing made in India; after lengthy proceedings, the WTO ordered the defendants to cancel the protectionist measures. However, conflicts of this kind often arise not only between developed and developing countries, but also between different developing countries. For example, in the second half of 2001, India initiated 51 anti-dumping proceedings at the WTO, of which 9 against China, 7 against Singapore, and 3 against Thailand.

Russia and WTO.

Since the Russian economy is becoming more and more integrated into world trade, there is a need for our country to get involved in the work of international economic organizations. Even in the years of the existence of the USSR, contacts were established with the GATT. Since 1995, negotiations have been underway on Russia's accession to the WTO.

By joining the WTO, Russia will be able to use this entire mechanism to protect its foreign trade interests. The need for it for Russian entrepreneurs grew when, in response to a serious increase in the openness of its domestic market, Russia did not see retaliatory steps from Western countries. Instead, it has, on the contrary, faced trade barriers precisely in those goods where Russia has a comparative advantage in international trade, and unfair competition from a number of foreign firms in foreign markets, as well as in Russia's domestic market.

Russia's accession to the WTO can help strengthen the stability, predictability and openness of the country's foreign trade regime, the shortcomings of which are complained not only by the foreign trade partners of the Russian Federation, but also by exporters and importers in Russia itself.

By joining the WTO, Russia will have to take on a number of obligations contained in the WTO agreements. Together with the obligations, Russia will also receive rights that will allow it to better protect its foreign trade interests and accelerate its integration into the world economy.

The main prerequisite for successfully overcoming the difficulties in the field of transforming legislation and using its advantages within the framework of the WTO is the effective continuation of the process of improving legislation within the framework of liberal economic reforms, because this process almost completely coincides with the adaptation of legislation to the norms and rules of the WTO. First of all, we are talking about eliminating excessive administrative pressure on enterprises and increasing the degree of transparency of all legislation.

The following benefits are expected from the liberalization and unification of the Russian system of state regulation:

- simplification and rationalization of procedures for confirming the compliance of manufactured products with international standards, and hence - the acceleration of the turnover of funds;

- increasing the competitiveness of products of Russian firms due to a more flexible system of technical requirements and harmonization of national and international requirements;

– increasing the investment attractiveness of the Russian economy;

– cost reduction and elimination of duplication in oversight and compliance monitoring;

– reducing the number of documents and increasing the transparency of the regulatory system.

But the liberalization of foreign economic relations will inevitably lead to significant negative consequences. This process will affect all spheres of the country's life - political, social, industrial, financial and economic.

In the realm of politics, accepting the obligations imposed by agreements with WTO member countries will lead to an inevitable weakening of national sovereignty. The restrictions will affect all branches of government - the executive (it will constantly be required to fulfill international obligations, even to the detriment of national interests), the legislative (regulatory acts will have to be brought in line with the WTO requirements), the judiciary (legal disputes for possible violations will be considered in international courts) .

In the field of social relations, accession to the WTO is also fraught with negative consequences: many enterprises, and possibly entire industries, will not be able to compete with the influx of foreign goods and services. It is not yet clear what the scale of job cuts could be, but it is likely that we will be talking about hundreds of thousands of unemployed (primarily in the light and food industries). This will require large expenditures for social support, retraining, creation of new jobs, etc. This requires huge funds, which, however, can be partially obtained from partners in the WTO.

Since Russian producers will have to compete with foreign producers both in the foreign and domestic markets for all product groups in very tough conditions, the crisis in the economic sphere itself can develop in two main directions.

On the one hand, foreign firms will certainly be presented - and, on quite legal grounds - claims about dumping allegedly used by Russian exporters. The fact is that the cost structure of our competitive goods is very different from the world one (primarily due to savings on wages, energy and ecology). Therefore, Russia will be required, for example, to raise domestic energy prices, bringing them in line with world prices.

On the other hand, competition with cheaper and higher-quality goods from foreign firms will sharply increase in the domestic market. According to some expert estimates, only 25% of domestic enterprises will be able to compete in the domestic market with foreign manufacturers. When Russia enters the WTO, the following sectors will suffer: agriculture, light industry, agricultural machinery and the automotive industry, in particular the production of trucks. For the rest, lowering customs barriers is unprofitable, since it can lead to ruin. Therefore, as a condition for joining the WTO, Russia insists on maintaining high customs duties to protect the domestic market from subsidized products from Europe, Asia and other countries.

In this regard, so-called adaptation measures are envisaged, in particular, it is planned to adopt a law on extending the exemption of agricultural enterprises from income tax until 2016 and minimizing VAT.

Since the immediate and full fulfillment of the conditions for joining the WTO seems impossible for Russia, there have been sharp disputes in our country about the advisability of this entry.

In June 2012, deputies from opposition parties submitted a request to the Constitutional Court to check for compliance with the Basic Law of the Russian Federation an international treaty on Russia's accession to the WTO. On July 9, 2012, the Constitutional Court recognized that the agreements with the WTO are legal.

The Russian economy will inevitably suffer major losses after joining the WTO.

Dmitry Preobrazhensky, Yuri Latov

Literature:

Afontsev S . Accession to the WTO: economic and political perspectives.– Pro et contra. T. 7., 2002
Gorban M., Guriev S., Yudaeva K. Russia in the WTO: myths and reality. - Issues of economics. 2002, No. 2
Maksimova M. Accession to the WTO: win or lose?- Man and work. 2002, No. 4
Dumoulin I.I. world Trade organisation. M., CJSC Publishing house "Economics", 2002, 2003
Internet resources: WTO website (Official WTO website) – http://www.wto.org/
Russia and the World Trade Organization (Russian WTO website) – http://www.wto.ru/
World Trade Organization: The Future of Successful Trading Starts Today - http://www.aris.ru/VTO/VTO_BOOK



Exactly five years ago, Russia became a member of the World Trade Organization. Today, summing up the results of the work, it is clear that Russia has received many advantages by achieving entry into the ranks of the World Trade Organization.

Accession to the WTO was preceded by lengthy negotiations that took 18 years. At this stage, the intention of the Russian Federation to join the World Trade Organization was criticized more than once, causing heated debates and discussions between supporters and opponents of entry. Before becoming a full member of the WTO, our country, as well as everyone else who wants to join the WTO, had to bring its legislation in line with the requirements of the organization. The main goals of the WTO - a specialized agency of the UN - are the liberalization of world trade, ensuring fair conditions for competition, and the removal of trade barriers. In addition, the WTO is engaged in the development and implementation of new agreements in the field of world trade, and also monitors their implementation. To date, the World Trade Organization, which includes 164 countries, remains the only and so far uncontested regulator of world trade.

What did Russia get after joining the WTO?

Now that five years have passed since Russia joined the WTO, it is already possible to draw some conclusions. Obviously, the Russian Federation was able to benefit from WTO membership. For example, WTO member countries have reduced discrimination against Russian goods and services. Dispute procedures were also launched, in particular with regard to special methods of anti-dumping investigations against Russian goods. In addition, Russia has settled into the negotiating bodies of the WTO and entered new markets: for example, a free trade agreement was signed with Vietnam. A package of rules for agricultural producers was also adopted, aimed at developing competition in agricultural markets. Today, specialists from the Ministry of Economic Development are sure that the country's agro-industrial complex has benefited from joining the WTO.

Having become a full member of the WTO, Russia continues to defend its interests within the framework of the dispute resolution mechanism. It is known that soon a lawsuit will be filed against the US and the EU. At the same time, according to Maxim Medvedkov, Director of the Trade Negotiations Department of the Ministry of Economic Development, the number of disputes can hardly be considered an indicator of the success of participation in the organization, and the dispute procedure itself is very costly.