Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 4 / Trend D.Mukhtarov /
Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will not affect the collaboration between Moscow and Astana in the Customs Union (CU) and the Eurasian Economic Union, the speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia, Valentina Matviyenko, believes. Russia is the first country of the Customs Union to join the WTO.
"In August, Russia became a member of the WTO. However, I should note that this does not contradict our integration associations - the Customs Union and the future Eurasian Economic Union," Matviyenko said in an interview with Trend.
She said all these processes, that are both Russia's accession to the WTO and the creation of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union, are only complementary.
Matviyenko recalled that the main objective of the Customs Union is to remove administrative barriers to allow free movement of goods, capital and labour.
"Russia's WTO accession will just contribute to this. It's necessary to consider the fact that all of these integration unions, such as the Customs Union and the same Eurasian Economic Community, are based on the principles of the WTO. All the major requirements of the World Trade Organisation have been incorporated in all their fundamental documents," the Federation Council speaker said.
She said Russia's accession to the WTO does not contradict either the Customs Union or Eurasian or European integration
"At the same time, with the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union and Customs Union, opportunities for our countries enter new markets appear. This makes our union of integration more attractive to other WTO members because we create a single market with a population of 200 million people," Matviyenko said.
Protocol on Russia's accession to the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO came into force on August 22. This means Russia has become the 156th member of this organisation.