Russia has officially announced that it will from now on conduct WTO accession talks together with Belarus and Kazakhstan, the two other members of its customs union.

Russia’s decision to team up with its customs union partners does not changes its resolve to become a WTO member. Russia still wants to join WTO, but the sequence of steps toward the goal will not be the same again. Initially, it was planned to achieve accession first and later to form a single customs system with the neighboring countries. The process has dragged on for 16 years, and the work to unite Russian, Belarusian, and Kazakh trade territories has already been carried out. Most importantly, agreements to create a single customs union had been reached, making it economically inexpedient to delay further the formation of a customs union.

The decision to negotiate WTO accession collectively may hold up talks a while as the customs union comes into force on January 1, but discussions concerning technical matters can be held at any time. There is plenty to talk about: Moscow, Minsk, and Astana are jointly negotiating WTO accession for the first time and therefore the issue of representation must be settled: would it be a special commission, representatives of the three governments, or would one individual be mandated to negotiate on behalf of the three? There is also an issue of preliminary agreements reached by the three countries separately. The customs union is for trade in goods only, and does not deal with the sale of services or intellectual property. Experts estimate that Russia had traveled 95 percent of the road toward WTO accession, Kazakhstan 70 percent, and Belarus about 50 percent. WTO will benefit hugely from the new format of talks, as it will deal with one customs union negotiating from a common platform, said economist Anatoly Aksanov.

The decision by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus to hold WTO accession talks on a common platform of their customs union is justified on the grounds of the principle of equal treatment. If the countries were to join separately, the rights of one of the customs union members might not be fully protected. WTO also wants to see Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus join the organization as quickly as possible since it will make the movement of goods and services easier and faster.