Russia to suspend WTO agreements on agriculture, manufacturing

Mumbai: Russia will suspend some of the ''unfair' agreements in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors it had signed in its eagerness to become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), prime minister Vladimir Putin has said.

Putin had, last week, said his country would suspend agreements on red meat, poultry and manufacturing. Putin had indicated disagreements over some of its WTO agreements and it was planning to severely cut imports of pork and chicken meat, which were agreed to three years ago.

Russia, Putin said, would return to the agreements once the country becomes a member of the world trade body.

''Not being a member of this organisation, we do not receive anything positive in return. This situation goes against our interests in certain sectors of the Russian economy, particularly agriculture," he said.

''We will suspend a number of programmes, but we will return to them as soon as we become a full-fledged member of the WTO,'' he added.

''Having considered the reasons for and against, we feel it is necessary to follow this direction and we will advance in this direction," he said.

Russia, the only major world trading power outside the bloc, has been knocking at the WTO's door since 1993, just two years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Georgia, with whom Russia had been at war for a short period over South Ossetia, had voiced objections to Russian membership in 2006 after Moscow placed heavy restrictions on imports of Georgian goods such as wine and mineral water. As a WTO member, Georgia effectively holds a veto over Russia's admission.