Reshetnikov: Russia considers it a priority to reach an agreement on the WTO appeal bodies – Economy and business
PARIS, December 21. / TASS /. Russia is in favor of achieving the goals of the European Trade Organization (WTO). Maxim Reshetnikov made this statement on Tuesday of the economic development of the Russian Federation at a press conference in Paris at the plenary meeting of the Russian-French Council on Economic, Financial, Industrial and Trade Issues.
“This is a difficult issue on the WTO, much determines the account of the US position,” he said, answering a question about the progress in the work of the Russian-French working group on the reform of this organization, the creation of which was announced back in 2018 by the predecessor of Reshetnikov, Maxim Oreshkin. today, the key task is to agree on the appellate bodies. “
According to the minister, one of the problems on the way to reaching consensus is the regular blocking of the appointment of arbitrators to this body. At the same time, such initiatives were regularly blocked by the US delegate. “The two-tier dispute settlement system does not work and there are a lot of decisions made at the level of first-level arbitrators, arbitrators and, accordingly, appeals are submitted to a non-working body,” Reshetnikov stated.
The minister admitted that it is difficult to talk about a broad consensus of the participating countries on this issue. He hopes that this topic will be raised at the XII WTO Ministerial Conference. “So far, unfortunately, it has been postponed indefinitely. We hope that at least a dialogue is taking place there, ”- Reshetnikov.