Duma Advises Cabinet On Wto

On Monday the parliamentary hearings The World Trade Organisation as the Common Market of Goods, Services and Intellectual Property were held at the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russian parliament). Participants recommended to the government setting up a consultative council on the WTO with the involvement of representatives from public organisations of sectoral business associations, such as Business Russia, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Russian Industrialists' and Entrepreneurs' Union. Recommendations say that Russia's non-participation as a full-fledged member in the World Trade Organisation in negotiations on setting legal norms for international trade may bar Russia from world development and in this way rid it of an opportunity to protect its national interest with the use of the WTO legal mechanism, make Russia face a growing volume of requirements and commitments in joining the WTO. Participants in the parliamentary hearings advised the cabinet to mind the interests of Russian businessmen in the negotiations on the WTO, develop a programme for training specialists in the field of multilateral agreements with the World Trade Organisation.