. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(03)/ST/151
13 September 2003
(03-4933)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fifth Session
Cancún, 10 - 14 September 2003Original:  English
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Statement by H.E. Mr Maxim Yu. Medvedkov
Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade
(Speaking as an Observer)
I am pleased to join other delegations in thanking the Chairman of the Ministerial Conference
H.E. Mr Luis Ernesto Derbez and the Mexican Government for their hospitality here in Cancún.
I would like as well to extend my most sincere gratitude to the Director-General Supachai
Panitchpakdi, to the Chairman and members of the Working Party on the Accession of the Russian
Federation to the WTO.
The international community is facing global challenges.  The world economy is slugging,
and the global trade – decelerating.
And the response should be global.We are inspired by Members' efforts these days that have been seeking to translate the Doha
mandate into reform modalities to secure sustaina ble economic growth and to achieve an efficient,
transparent, predictable and fairly balanced multilateral trading system.
In this context we share the view of the prevailing majority of the WTO Members that it is
essential to ensure the full integration of the developing and least-developed countries into the worldtrade.  Next, it is crucial to achieve the overall balance in the level of commitments to be undertaken
by various countries.
Observing the acute discussions on key topics of the Doha Development Agenda I would like
to underscore that we support an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary approach to tradeliberalization.  The Russian proverb "hurry up slowly" reflects our position in this respect.  We also
strongly believe that the qualitative aspect of the results of the Round should prevail over quantitative
ones, without missing the strategic goals of the Organization.
The accession to the WTO remains one of the top priorities of the Russian Federation.  This
accession is an integral and important part of our internal economic and legislative reforms.  But any
process should have its end.  And we expect that it will happen rather sooner than later.
The Russian Parliament is expected to complete the harmonization of the domestic legislation
with the WTO rules in coming months.
We have intensified bilateral negotiations on market access and now are close to an
agreement with our partners.WT/MIN(03)/ST/151
Page 2
Russia is going to undertake commitments that reflect the actual level of the national
development taking into account specific structural adjustment issues, and in line with the average
level of commitments of other Members.  We are read y to suggest fair and pragmatic solutions to the
remaining problems, and we urge our partners to share such an approach.
We believe it is necessary to intensify without delay work on systemic issues in the Working
Party report, which is absolutely important for the market access package as well.  We are ready to
take on board the proposals by the Members, which may contribute to ensure better and predictable
trade within the current rules of the WTO agreements and which take into account the realities of the
domestic economic agenda.
At the same time we strongly believe that the Russian accession, like the accession of any
other country, should not be used as an experimental platform for ideas and concepts which are still
subject to discussions within the WTO itself.  We are ready and willing to cooperate on all issues of
the DDA from the day of accession, strongly believing that world trade needs adequate solutions.
We thank the Members for clear indications of political support to Russia in the accession
process, and are glad to see that in most cases it has been recently converted into practical actions.
We congratulate the Governments and the people of Nepal and Cambodia with a successful
completion of the accession negotiations.
We also hope that the next Ministerial Conference will be held with our full-fledged
participation, enabling Russia to contribute to the global economic growth using its inherent
competitive advantages.
Foreign trade accounts for more than one third of our GDP.  Russia's customs territory is one
seventh of the cumulative customs territories of the countries in the world.
That is why we are willing to contribute to  strengthening the multilateral trading system
aimed at addressing effectively future challenges, to fostering growth and to achieving a more
equitable and prosperous world.  That is why we believe that Russia's accession meets the interests of
the WTO and its Members.
__________