OREANDA-NEWS. December 27, 2012. The World Trade Center hosted a conference “Building concerted position on agricultural policy at the Customs Union and WTO” organized by the Eurasian Economic Commission, Agro-Industrial Association of the Customs Union and Moscow’s World Trade Center.

The conference attendees discussed matters related to government support of agricultural industries of the Customs Union member nations, with the purpose of promoting fair competition, and also discussed government policies of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus aimed at support of the agribusiness in those countries within the framework of the Customs’ Union regulatory framework affected by Russia’s accession to the WTO.

Presentations at the conference were made by Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Agriculture Minister, a few officials of the Eurasian Economic Commission, including Sergei Sidorsky, the Commission’s Board Member (Minister) responsible for trade and agribusiness, Andrei Slepnev, the Commission’s Board Member (Minister) responsible for trade, Valery Koreshkov, the Commission’s Board Member (Minister) responsible for technical regulation, Andrei Tsyganov, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Antitrust Service, Arman Yevniyev, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Business Council, and Vladimir Salamatov, General Director of the WTC (Moscow). Other speakers and attendees included representatives of industrial unions and organizations.

The conference was opened by Andrei Danilenko, Chairman of the Board of the Agro-Industrial Association of the Customs Union (AATS). Addressing Mr. Salamatov, he emphasized that the WTC “is becoming a genuinely efficient location for developing a constructive dialog between business and the authorities both at the national level, and within the Customs Union.” According to Mr. Danilenko, the AATS intends to continue collaboration with the WTC in organizing events of the same high level. As for the present conference, he said it carried extremely important information for the resolution of issues faced by agribusiness in all the three countries (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan).

Building a uniform economic space within the nations of the Customs Union and a concerted trade policy will promote stable development of the three countries and will boost their integration in global economy. According to Mr. Shestakov, “the future of our countries is in successful competition in international markets, not just within the Customs Union.”

Today, the Customs Union’s member states face the challenge of building a uniform market with an ability to compete with other markets, and players in that market must meet certain requirements. “It is necessary to pursue a single agro-industrial policy, to develop a single concept of the agro-industrial commission, to adhere to the points of reference of our three economies,” Mr. Sidorsky said in his presentation.

Russia’s accession to the WTO will lead to a weakened tariff protection of the Customs Union member nations (some branches of agriculture are especially sensitive to those changes, notably pig farming). This necessitates urgent measures to be taken as soon as possible. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Slepnev, with a few months passed with Russia in the WTO, and no “emergency signals” have been heard yet. Proper monitoring of the economic indices and prompt response where required (for instance, to deal with threateningly large imports) will be the two challenges that the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has to deal with. The minister also urged national manufacturers to rally their unions and associations to oppose unfair competition using of antidumping and protective measures. He stressed that today all conference attendees have a chance to directly address the three EEC ministers and establish a constructive dialog, try to resolve the existing problems and consider potential threats.

Russia’s accession to the WTO must not be regarded only as a threat to the national producer. Mr. Salamatov referred to Ukraine in his example, saying that ten years ago it had joined the WTO with rather average economic indices. However, today Ukraine’s officials acknowledge obvious advantages of developing economy in line with the WTO rules. “Each government has its own measures of protecting national business. For instance, the Customs Union had had a series of antidumping and special protective measures even before Russia joined the WTO,” said WTC’s general director when speaking about the challenges and prospects of international trade in agricultural products in view Russia’s accession to the WTO and building a uniform economic space. (See Vladimir Salamatov’s presentation.)

Among other issues discussed at the conference were technical, customs, tariff and non-tariff regulation, problems and prospects of agribusiness in the Customs Union member countries in view of Russia’s accession to the WTO. Addressing the conference participants and guests, Mr. Koreshkov dwelt in some detail on technical regulation and on development of programs aimed at standards management. He said information on those issues can be found at the EEC web site.