Russian senator on WTO negotiations

One of the major drawbacks affecting Russia-WTO negotiations is a lack of a clear position of the state, Valentin Zavadnikov, the Chairman of the Federation Council's Commission for Industrial Policies, told journalists. "One cannot understand which interests are asserted in course of the negotiations and on what criteria the final decisions are based," he stressed. "It is not clear, if fiscal authorities, including the Russian Central Bank, influence the negotiations," he added.

According to the senator, interests of Russian customers are not taken into account. There are no projects of defending certain regions from negative impacts of joining the WTO. Zavadnikov believes that Russia should intensify the process of adopting the international quality standards and international accounting standards. Process of the WTO negotiations is not thoroughly disclosed, the senator stressed.