Public Remarks

Remarks at the Second International Congress "Russia and WTO: Hopes and Strategic Possibilities"

William J. Burns, U.S. Ambassador to Russia

Moscow, Russia, April 09, 2007

Good morning. It is an honor to be with you. My thanks to Alexandr Shokhin and Evgeniy Federov for organizing this event and inviting me to join in the conversation. The line up behind me is impressive, so I'll try to be brief — very brief. I'll just make five points.

First, I want to point out something that is no doubt very obvious to all of you: the recent U.S.-Russia bilateral WTO agreement was the biggest single step forward in our economic relationship in the past decade. It sets the stage for successful completion of Russia's multilateral accession talks this year. The RSPP, whose support for accession helped move the process forward, played a significant role.

Second, I want to assure you of our commitment to work with Russia to complete the accession process quickly. We understand the urgency felt by Russia's leadership to bring the long and painful process of accession to conclusion this year.

Third, as Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez emphasized last week, one of the best ways for Russia to advance its WTO bid is to follow through on the commitments made last fall in our bilateral agreement. In that agreement, Russia set a course for itself to better protect intellectual property, move toward a science-based approach to trade in agricultural products, and liberalize markets. These are not favors to America, but deeply in Russia's own interests. They will help modernize Russia's aviation industry, making state of the art aircraft and airplane parts more affordable and airlines better able to service Russia's eleven time zones. They will help Russian exporters and employers guarantee open markets abroad. Russian consumers will see a broader range of goods at more affordable prices.

Fourth, this all comes at a moment of great opportunity for Russia. Russia's one trillion dollar economy is about to become the tenth largest in the world. Foreign direct investment is soaring. A middle class is emerging. Retail markets are expanding as fast as any place in the world. The great economic challenge before Russia in the years ahead is what to do with these hard-won gains, what to do with this rare and impermanent moment of energy-driven opportunity. Russia's immense natural resources are a huge asset, but the real question is what can be done with the human resources that set Russia apart from so many other countries that also happen to have a lot of valuable resources in the ground. WTO membership will help bolster the many above-ground resources Russia has to offer — contributing to the process of economic diversification called for by Russia's leadership.

My last point is that WTO will hardly be a panacea, or a magic cure. With greater competition there will be challenges. It is important, as all of you are doing, to think ahead and anticipate that some sectors will find it difficult to cope in the post-WTO environment. From our own experience, I can only say that after a period of adjustment, the gains from trade liberalization have again and again proven themselves to far outweigh the losses. Secretary Gutierrez put it well this week when he said that, "Protectionism doesn't protect jobs — the only thing that does is to compete, innovate and grow."

The decisive moment will demand hard work, and tough choices. It is very important for Russia, with our help, to keep up momentum. Russia needs the WTO, and the WTO needs Russia — let us finish this job now.