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Russia hopes to join WTO by end of 2006 - Gref

DAVOS, January 26 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Andrianova)-Russia is counting on joining the World Trade Organization by the end of this year, the economic and trade minister said Thursday.

After arriving in the Swiss resort town of Davos for an annual gathering of the world's financial elite, German Gref said: "We believe that we have good chances of completing the WTO accession process by the end of this year."

During this year's World Economic Forum, which will run through January 29, Gref will meet with senior officials, including U.S. Trade Representatives Robert Portman, and European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

The Russian delegation also plans to discuss a timetable for drafting the final report on the accession process with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, the minister said.

Russia's chief WTO negotiator, Maxim Medvedkov, said earlier that Russia could sign bilateral agreements with Switzerland and Brazil in Davos. But Gref was less optimistic, saying some issues remained to be settled with those countries. He did say, though, that he hoped meetings with his Swiss and Brazilian colleagues on the sidelines of the forum would help settle remaining differences.

Russia is yet to complete WTO membership talks with four countries within the Working Party on its accession: the United States, Australia, Colombia, and Switzerland.

"Our main objective at the moment is to complete the talks with the four countries and draft the final, fifth, version of the report that would satisfy all our partners," Gref said.

The minister hopes talks with some of those countries would be completed in Davos, and added that he expected a Thursday meeting with Portman to be "constructive."

One of the biggest problems in Russia's negotiations with the U.S. is violations of intellectual property rights. The U.S. and other countries have demanded that Russia toughen legislation and penalties for intellectual property theft. The Russian authorities have stepped up seizures of pirated CDs, DVDs and other intellectual property, which can be found all over the capital, but have said the problem cannot be solved overnight.

The European trade commission is likely to discuss the possibility of canceling trans-Siberian overflight fees for foreign air carriers. The EU, which counts as a single country in negotiations, is backing Russia's WTO bid and signed a relevant agreement in 2004, but threatened to withdraw from it if Russia did not cancel the overflight fees, which bring it $300 million annually. Russia has promised to scrap the fees in a decade.

Gref, however, said he did not believe Europe would resort to withdrawing its support.

"I do not think they [EU] will withdraw from the agreement," the minister said.

The minister also plans present an ambitious project on special economic zones to the corporate world and start negotiations on possible investment into them.

Special economic zones (SEZ) are to be created across the country to promote the development of high-tech industries and transport infrastructure by offering tax breaks and other privileges to resident companies.