Russia Looks To Boost Belarus’ Bid To Join WTO

While Russia’s football (soccer) team was scoring goals during its match with Egypt at the World Cup on Tuesday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was signing a new bilateral agreement with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in Minsk.

“In the recently signed joint statement there is confirmed the common attitude for strengthening and expanding the strategic partnership between Russia and Belarus,” said Putin following the talks with Lukashenko. “We paid special attention today, of course, to economic cooperation.”

The Belarusian-Russian Foreign Policy Action Program for 2018-2019 includes language that indicates Russia will assist its closest ally and neighbor in acceding to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“Among the important accents of the bilateral agenda of the new program, I would like to note the confirmation of the readiness of the Russian side to assist Belarus in the negotiation process on its accession to the WTO,” Belarus’ foreign minister Vladimir Makei said while speaking at the Supreme State Council session held in the Belarusian capital.

Belarus’ gross domestic product of nearly $53 billion in 2017 makes it one of the more wealthy countries in Eastern Europe.

In 1993 the former Soviet republic had applied to joining the WTO, but has not met the required thresholds regarding government intervention in markets, especially those related to agriculture. Strained relations with the European Union and the United Nations have only added to its hurdles to join the world’s premier trading organization.

“Having confirmed that cooperation within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CSI) is an overriding priority in the foreign policy of the two countries, we've expressed the intention to promote proposals on creating a barrier-free environment in the bilateral trade, determine growth points in specific economic avenues, and bolster manufacturing ties,” Makei said, referring to regional multilateral bodies of which Belarus is a part.

Accession to the WTO is of vital importance to leaders in Minsk, who have been left to defend domestically the negative economic impact of Russia’s accession to the organization in 2012. Because of Russia joining Belarusian goods no longer were competitive in foreign markets, and Belarus has no rights to use the WTO’s protection regulations for litigation purposes.

Russia's accession had a domino effect on post-Soviet states like Belarus and Kazakhstan, who were forced to comply with trade liberalization policies. As a result, Russia’s membership in the WTO has raised the level of competition within the Customs Union and squeezed out a number Belarusian manufacturers from the market.