Ukraine president signs WTO membership deal

GENEVA-Ukraine was approved as the newest member of the World Trade Organisation on Tuesday, a move that President Viktor Yushchenko believes will significantly boost his country's economy.The Ukrainian parliament now has six months to ratify the accession agreement, which follows nearly 15 years of often tortuous negotiations.The accord, signed with WTO head Pascal Lamy amid great pomp at a ceremony at WTO headquarters in Geneva, leaves Russia as the wrold's only major economy still outside the global trade monitoring body.
"Thanks to our integration into the global economy, there will be a 1.7 percent improvement in our gross domestic product," Yushchenko told journalists after the ceremony.
WTO membership "will boost foreign direct investment by 3.5 billion dollars (2.4 billion euros) and exports by 4 billion dollars per year," the president said.Russia welcomed the accession, saying it hoped it would ease and clarify trade relations between the two former Soviet republics."We are very glad. The reaction is very positive," said Yuri Afanasiev, senior consular head of the trade policy section of the Russian mission in Geneva."Last year the trade between our two countries increased by 30 percent. We believe it's positive because our relation will be based on international regulated rules," he told AFP.Yushchenko said earlier that he hoped being in the WTO would give Ukraine "leverage" in its dealings with Russia.But he struck a more conciliatory note on Tuesday, saying he hoped Russia would soon also join the global trade body.
"I am sure we would benefit from Russia joining the WTO," he said.Kiev has already said it would seek a free trade agreement with the European Union upon joining the WTO.Ukraine struck a deal with Brussels on export duties at the end of January, paving the way for the WTO accession agreement.The chair of the WTO working group on Ukraine's membership, Chilean ambassador Mario Matus, said the accession process was "long and arduous and required difficult policy decisions from Ukraine."Under the deal, Ukraine will restrict the number of existing export duties and not increase them in the future, trade sources said last month.These duties are applied on live cattle, animal skins, ferrous and non-ferrous particles, the sources added.Ukrainian officials said they hoped the agreement would boost small and medium-sized companies in the country, adding that great stress was placed on the services industry."In the 800-page agreement, there are 155 commitments on services, mainly on customs duties concessions," said Volodymyr Baluta, head of the trade and economy section at the Ukrainian mission in Geneva."The insurance sector, banks, transport, energy and maritime transport sectors are all involved," he told AFP.On agricultural subsidies-a key sticking point in the wider WTO negotiations on a new global trade round-Ukraine is ready to lower the level of payments, he said.Industrial goods tariffs meanwhile will be cut to zero in many cases, such as chemical products, textiles, agricultural machinery and aeronautics, Baluta added.Yushchenko said WTO membership will boost Ukraine's metal production by 22 percent, with jobs set to rise by 19 percent.For chemical products, he expects a 21 percent rise in product, 3 percent rise in exports and 17 percent rise in jobs.Agriculture exports could rise by 44 percent, the president added, boasting that his country has "the largest arable land in Europe".Membership of the European Union, NATO and the WTO have been key foreign policy aims for Yushchenko, who has sought to wrest his former Soviet republic from Moscow's orbit since coming to power in 2005.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080205/wl_afp/wtotradeukrainemembership_080205180337;_ylt=Ao63HjT.trYnjPXGXw2jtnqFOrgF
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