EU supports Russian WTO membership; Russia agrees to speed up ratification of global warming accord

Friday, May 21st 2004, 9:48 am

By: News On 6

MOSCOW (AP) _ The European Union on Friday confirmed its backing for Russia to join the World Trade Organization, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow in turn would speed up ratification of the troubled Kyoto accord on global warming.

The announcements capped the first EU-Russia summit since the European bloc took in 10 new members, most of them former Soviet satellites, earlier this month. Moscow had expressed concern that the expansion would hurt its trade interests.

``The EU has met us halfway in talks over the WTO and that cannot but affect positively our position on the Kyoto protocol,'' Putin said at a news conference. ``We will speed up Russia's movement toward the Kyoto protocol's ratification.''

Russia, which first applied to join the WTO in 1993, is the biggest economy still outside the 147-nation body, which sets rules on international trade.

As part of membership negotiations, countries must conclude bilateral agreements with any WTO members that demand it. Russia has completed many of the negotiations but has yet to sign deals with major members, including the the United States and China.

At the close of the summit, Russian Economics Minister German Gref and European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy signed the trade protocol, putting Russia a step closer to joining the WTO.

The two sides had been divided over the EU's push for Russia to raise its domestic energy prices to world levels, while Moscow had balked at the EU's demands to open its banking, financial and telecommunications sectors to foreign competition.

``It's a long-expected, well balanced agreement,'' Putin said of the EU-Russia protocol.

The 25-nation EU long has urged Russia to ratify the 1997 protocol aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are widely seen as a key factor behind global warming.

Kyoto foes in Russia, led by Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, have argued that the pact will stifle the nation's economic development, derailing Putin's plan of doubling Russia's gross domestic product in 10 years.

To come into force, the Kyoto Protocol must be ratified by no fewer than 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions in 1990. That minimum now can be reached only with Russia's ratification because the United States and several other key countries have rejected the treaty.

``We support the Kyoto process,'' Putin said in his clearest statement yet on the subject. ``We have some concerns connected to the applications of the obligations we have to take.''

European Commission President Romano Prodi said at the start of Friday's talks that the EU would make efforts to help develop Russia's westernmost Kaliningrad enclave, which is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

``Enlargement will bring the EU and Russia closer together, as it brings us new opportunities for cooperation,'' Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, the current president of the European Council, said.

Putin told the news conference that it was a good sign that the first post-expansion summit had ended ``in such a positive vein.''