70% Of Russian Businessmen For Russia's Early Accession To WTO

Russia's accession to the WTO should go along with establishing 10-15-percent import customs duties. Leader Igor Lisinenko of the Delovaya Rossia /Businesslike Russia/ parliamentary union said as much commenting on the discussion within the current French-Russian economic forum in Moscow. The middle layer of the domestic business, Lisinenko believes, needs a delicate protection from the government, including in the form of import duties. Speaking at the forum, Vice President Igor Yurgens of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said that 70 percent of big and medium-size business favoured Russia's early accession to the WTO. The remainder do not object to Russia's WTO membership but secure reservations regarding the timing and mechanisms. Yurgens also stressed that the very negotiating process and the obligations Russia will assume with regard to its legislative reform will have a positive effect on the economy. As to the international economic relations, the vice president pointed out to the Russo-French relations, since France is one of the few countries advocating cooperation with Russia in high-tech areas /in particular, in space/.