Russia in the WTO: prospects for cooperation – FBK Partner at the RIA Novosti round table

On 17 July Igor Nikolayev, Director of the FBK Institute of Strategic Analysis, spoke at the round table discussion of “Russia in the WTO: prospects for cooperation” at the RIA Novosti multi-media press-center. The analyst pointed out, that Russia’s accession to the WTO was the achievement of Russia’s economic policy of the recent years, which though, might turn to harm.
The auditors of the Audit Chamber think that the discrimination of Russian goods at the world markets continues. Due to the failure to pass the law on the recycling fee the European Union filed a claim against RF to the WTO Court. “Russia, after having introduced the recycling fee for cars and trucks, agreed with the European Union that domestic manufacturers would pay the fee, too” said the economist.  And we are now going to introduce the recycling fee for domestic vehicles at the time when it is contraindicated, when the production of cars is sliding into recession – i.e. at the very wrong time”. I. Nikolayev considers that 20 thousand roubles per car is a perceptible amount for AvtoVAZ, particularly when in May-June the registered production decline was almost 18% higher compared with the corresponding period last year.  “We have turned out to be much more fundamentally immature for the WTO,” the expert believes. “The Russian economy is the economy of low competitiveness. In this respect the WTO accession potential turns to be unlocked.”