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TWN Info Service
on WTO and Trade Issues (Mar22/07) Geneva, 8 Mar (D. Ravi Kanth) - Russia has asked "certain members" of the World Trade Organization to stop their "politicization" of the trade body and the "fragmentation" of the multilateral trading system (MTS), underscoring the need to engage constructively to improve the WTO's functioning and to ensure a successful 12th ministerial conference (MC12), said people familiar with the development. In a letter to the chair of the WTO's General Council (GC), Ambassador Didier Chambovey from Switzerland, on 7 March, the Russian trade envoy to the WTO, Ambassador D Lyakishev, dismissed the Ukrainian communication calling for the suspension of Russia from the WTO on alleged erroneous interpretation of the WTO rules. Last week, Ukraine informed the GC chair of Kiev's decision to impose an economic embargo due to Russia's unprovoked invasion and violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia said the legal justification provided by Ukraine for its embargo under Article XIII of the WTO Agreement "does not apply to Russia or Ukraine." Russia maintained that "Article XIII of the WTO Agreement provides [for] non-application of the Multilateral Trade Agreements between particular members." However, it said the conditions set out in Article XIII "only refer to the non-application as between a Member and any other Member if either of the Members, at the time either becomes a Member, does not consent to such application." Moscow reminded Ukraine that "the so-called Security Exceptions relied upon are relevant in the context of a limited number of the WTO Agreements, namely, Article XXI of the GATT is relevant to matters covered by the GATT, Article XIVbis of the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) only applies to matters covered by the GATS, while Article 73bis of the TRIPS Agreement can only be applied in the context of matters covered by the TRIPS Agreement." With the WTO being a rules-based trade organization, "the suggestion of Ukraine to "suspend" Russia's participation in the WTO equally has no legal ground," Russia said, suggesting that "such action is not provided in the WTO agreement." Without naming the United States and its developed-country allies, who have repeatedly condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia said that "it noted with regret the efforts of certain members towards politicization of the WTO and fragmentation of the multilateral trading system instead of engaging in a substantive dialogue on the key issues of the global trade agenda." Russia said that "all Members need to combine their efforts to improve the WTO's functioning, demonstrate its continued relevance for international trade and ensure the successful MC12 with the tangible negotiating results to be delivered." Meanwhile, in a separate development on 7 March, the scheduled two-day meeting of the Doha agriculture negotiating body was apparently suspended when two members of the developed-country coordination group threatened that they will walk out if Russia makes any intervention at the meeting, said people familiar with the development. Apparently, the chair of the agriculture negotiating body is convening a meeting of around a dozen countries on Friday in which Russia is excluded, said a member, who asked not to be quoted.
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