... "The Health and Social Development Ministry needs to develop new regulation in the pharmaceuticals market now. These steps are not being taken, [and] we only have a law on the distribution of medicines, which was adopted without consideration of WTO entry," Vladimir Shipkov told The Moscow Times. Russia has problems meeting international quality standards for medicine, Shipkov said. Vladimir Dorofeyev, a scientific adviser to the group, said the problem stems from the dissolution of the...

... conference in Moscow on Tuesday showed. Imports will increase to about 1.8 million tons in 2020, meeting as much as 45 percent of local demand, the group said. "The industry's investment attractiveness will drop sharply after Russia's accession to the WTO," Nikolai Birulin, the union's chief expert, said at the conference. "Only those farm projects that are being constructed now have a chance to be commissioned." Domestic pork production will decrease starting in 2014 because the industry's...

... as soon as Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization is complete, but challenges remain in taking advantage of the new status, industry experts agreed during the Food Business Summit in Moscow on Thursday. "We were preparing to enter the WTO for 18 years and still are not ready for it," said Russian Food Union chairman Maxim Protasov. "We have no training manual how to make use of the WTO." Product safety is one aspect that should improve under the WTO, Protasov said,...

... Trade Organization. KAZAN — Truck maker KamAZ could see a reduction of its market share due to price competition from other manufacturers after Russia joins the World Trade Organization. "Will our efforts suffice when Russia joins the WTO, when structural business reform should continue further? We have not yet achieved the technological level we need," said KamAZ general director Sergei Kogogin last week, Interfax reported. Kogogin, who was speaking at a joint session of the...

KAZAN — Russia should be a full-fledged member of the World Trade Organization by the end of this summer, head of the Economic Development Ministry's trade negotiations department Maxim Medvedkov said at a Tuesday news conference in Kazan, Interfax reported. The Russian government should be receiving the documents for consideration in the next few weeks, Medvedkov said. "After the government goes through its procedures, they will be submitted to the Duma. I can't say on which day exactly, but...

... at the Economic Development Ministry, said the tax will have to be levied on these products so Russia doesn't discriminate against imports. For example, "if VAT for our carrots is zero, it should be zero for the imports," he said. In other WTO-related news, Medvedkov described how the Customs Union of Russia and two other former Soviet republics is reviewing its import duties in the face of Russia's future entry into the bigger trade bloc. The WTO accession terms allow the country to raise...

Alongside actively developing cross-border economic, trade and customs law and adjusting to European standards and the WTO principles, Russia is seeing the adoption of rulings actually hampering foreign capital flow into the country. In January 2012, Russia's Supreme Arbitration Court (SAC) published a ruling prohibiting taxpayers with foreign capital from deducting interest...

....S. Congress this year to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment to ensure equal access for U.S. companies in the Russian market.  Obama has long been a strong supporter of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. As Obama has noted, WTO accession "will lower tariffs, improve international access to Russia's services markets and hold the Russian government accountable to a system of rules governing trade behavior and provide the means to enforce those rules." Joseph Kruzich...

... promises to scrap what Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described as a "Cold War relic." Lavrov told a news conference that the United States must repeal the discriminatory law. "Russia will not abide by the commitments it undertook as a WTO member if the Jackson-Vanik amendment remains in force," he said. American businessmen and the U.S. administration have long lobbied to have the law scrapped in Congress, but Republicans have opposed such a move for years, using it as a negotiation...

... signed the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials on Friday to "enhance the attractiveness of the national economy and attract investment," Kommersant reported. The move, along with Russia's completing negotiations for WTO membership, has been widely viewed as among the most important steps in securing a place in the OECD. The legislature also on Friday elected 150 deputy committee heads , handing half the posts to the ruling United Russia party. Notable appointees...

... demand to delete the term "wine drinks" — which refers to drinks where wine is diluted or mixed with additives — from draft regulations covering alcohol safety. Kazakhstan argues that the term is misleading to consumers and breaks WTO rules. Critics in Belarus and Russia say the Kazakh proposals would make traditional favorites like mulled wine and sangria illegal. Leonid Popovich, president of the Russian Union of Wine Growers and Winemakers, told the RBK daily on Friday that...

... Union U.S. presidents have granted Russia "temporary" normal trade relations in the form of an annual "waiver" verified by Congress. With Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization in December, America will be in breach of WTO rules requiring members to give each other permanent normal trade relations. As a result, without a repeal "U.S. companies will be denied the full enjoyment of Russia's improved market access and tariff reductions, and thus be placed at a competitive...

... country’s pending entry into the World Trade Organization would not cause the government to slash its agricultural subsidies immediately. This year, he said, the federal budget earmarked 170 billion rubles ($5.6 billion) in support measures, while WTO accession terms allow Russia to spend as much as $9 billion to that end. “There’s some potential,” he said. “We need to calculate the situation and, perhaps, add spending somewhere.” Myronivsky Hliboproduct, a Ukrainian...

... regardless of who becomes the next president," Lukyanov said. What is likely to bring positive changes for Finnish companies operating in Russia is its accession to the World Trade Organization. "Finnish businessmen were eager to see Russia in the WTO in order to have an additional guarantee that their investment will be safe," Lukyanov said. Halonen also visited Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence later Tuesday. In an informal conversation, Putin proposed that the Finnish president buy real estate...

... worried about my furniture production business. We can make furniture comparable to European furniture — we work only with natural wood — but we are worried that energy tariffs might become higher because of Russia’s accession to the WTO. Q: How did you get involved in horse breeding? A: I was inspired by God. This is a hard job. There are no laws that regulate horse breeding, but the Orlov breed of horse is the symbol of our region and we can’t lose it. The Orlov is named after...