On 22th August 2012, Russia became 156th member of the World Trade Organization. Negotiations took no shorter than 18 years and the accession itself is connected with both privileges and duties on both sides. Most importantly, Russia is obliged to lower its import duties, limit its export duties. Russia will also benefit from the membership as it will lower the costs of exports to all its biggest trading partners.
EU as the biggest partner of Russia welcomes this step very cheerfully. The biggest exports of the EU to Russia are cars and car components, medicine and medical equipment and electronics. Russian imports are represented by a vast majority by crude oil and gas. It is estimated that the tariff reduction will result in savings of €2.5 billion annually in import duties for EU exporters. Moreover, these reduced tariffs should encourage €3.9 billion increase in EU’s exports.

For more information, click here.