Russia, allies seek early WTO membership as union

Published: 15 Oct 2009 17:13:16 PST

GENEVA, Oct 15 - Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus aim to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as soon as possible together as a single customs union, trade negotiators for the three former Soviet states said on Thursday.

They will resume their WTO accession talks as separate states, but coordinate closely, they told a briefing.

Harmonising the customs union's external tariff will require Kazakhstan to renegotiate some duties that it has already agreed with WTO members, Kazakh negotiator Zhanar Aitzhanova said. But Russian negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said Russia would not raise any tariff ceilings it had already negotiated as a result of the customs union.