Russia new hopes of WTO membership

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is striving for a free trade agreement with the EU. Prior to that he wants to show goodwill to the EU by joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which the country has been trying to do for 17 years. Russia's economic opening may have a positive political effect, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung believes: "Russia has decided to embark on modernisation, for in the long term the country has more to gain than to lose. Everyday life in Russia is dominated by cars from the West and the Far East, by fridges, lamps and shampoo from Europe. The country produces almost nothing. If Russia wants to develop new technologies it must first bring these into the country. To do this Moscow needs to create incentives, to be friendly. ... Membership in the WTO, which it is hoping to achieve next year, will set new standards in Russia. More than ever this huge country will have to submit to rules, commit itself, relinquish sovereignty. In exchange it will gain new freedoms in the long term. Whether this will also promote democracy is another issue altogether. It probably won't happen that quickly."

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