Russia's WTO membership will help boost Polish exports

On Friday, Russia agreed the terms of its membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will envisage a major lowering of its import duties. This should result in growing exports of Polish food, furniture, drugs and other commodities. According to Danuta Huebner, EU trade Commissioner, Russia should formally have a seat at the WTO by the end of the year, or at the beginning of 2005. This was the first time that EU officials carried out negotiations on behalf of Poland, and according to Polish sources Polish demands were given "B priority” as opposed to "A". One of the major success of the talks was that Russia agreed to double the price of their gas by 2010, which means that Polish companies that are major gas consumers (such as the chemical sector) will be able to compete on a more level playing ground with domestic Russian companies that had enjoyed artificially low gas prices. Russia will also reduce its custom duties on food and industrial goods by 33%. (Rzeczpospolita, May 22-23, pp. A1, B2) M.M.