Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) simultaneously with Belarus and Kazakhstan is likely to delay Moscow's entry significantly, Reuters quoted the senior official steering the negotiations as saying today. "Any simultaneous bid is likely to significantly delay the process and set back Russia's bid," Stefan Johannesson, who chairs the global trade body's key working group on Russia's membership efforts, told Reuters in an interview. Russia has been trying for more than a decade to join the 153-member trade watchdog and is the largest economy to remain outside it, accounting for over half of the 4 percent of world trade not governed by WTO rules. Johannesson said he would meet Russian, Belarussian and Kazakh negotiators at the WTO in Geneva on Thursday to "clarify what is going on" with Moscow's stalled bid. Uncertainty over Moscow's WTO aspirations has grown since Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Russia's withdrawal of its unilateral accession bid in June in favour of a joint effort as part of a customs union with his two ex-Soviet neighbours. Many WTO members, including the European Union and the United States, have poured cold water on the plan. WTO chief Pascal Lamy has questioned whether a joint bid complies with the body's rules, forcing Moscow to backtrack slightly in recent months. Russian officials have indicated the three countries may ditch the plan to join as a customs union, and instead accede simultaneously on an individual basis. "The accession process is on hold until we get clarification of the process. Russia must provide the other WTO members with details and substance of the customs union and how it will operate in relation to the WTO and its rules," Johannesson said. "Once we hear what Russia has to say on Thursday, I, along with the chairs of the Belarus and Kazakhstan talks, will consult informally with WTO members, in particular the main players, to determine whether to move forward with the accession process."
