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Russia, EU sign protocol on Russia`s accession to WTO
Moscow, May 21: Russia and the European Union signed a protocol today confirming EU backing for Russia`s accession to the World Trade Organization, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow in turn would speed up ratification of the Kyoto protocol.
Moscow, May 21: Russia and the European Union signed a protocol today confirming EU backing for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, and Russian
President Vladimir Putin said Moscow in turn would speed up ratification of the Kyoto protocol.
"The EU has met us halfway in talks over the WTO and that cannot but affect positively our position on the Kyoto protocol," Putin told a Kremlin news conference at the end of the one-day Russia-EU Summit.
"We will speed up Russia's movement toward the Kyoto protocol's ratification," he said.
The EU has long urged Russia to ratify the 1997 protocol aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are widely seen as a key factor behind global warming. Kyoto foes in Russia, led by Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, have argued that the pact will stifle the nation's economic development, derailing Putin's plan of doubling Russia's GDP in ten years.
To come into force, the Kyoto protocol must be ratified by no fewer than 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions in 1990. That minimum now can be reached only with Russia's ratification because the United States and several other key countries have rejected the treaty.
"We support the Kyoto process," Putin said in his clearest statement yet on the subject. "We have some concerns connected to the applications of the obligations we have to take."
Bureau Report
"The EU has met us halfway in talks over the WTO and that cannot but affect positively our position on the Kyoto protocol," Putin told a Kremlin news conference at the end of the one-day Russia-EU Summit.
"We will speed up Russia's movement toward the Kyoto protocol's ratification," he said.
The EU has long urged Russia to ratify the 1997 protocol aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are widely seen as a key factor behind global warming. Kyoto foes in Russia, led by Putin's economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, have argued that the pact will stifle the nation's economic development, derailing Putin's plan of doubling Russia's GDP in ten years.
To come into force, the Kyoto protocol must be ratified by no fewer than 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 percent of global emissions in 1990. That minimum now can be reached only with Russia's ratification because the United States and several other key countries have rejected the treaty.
"We support the Kyoto process," Putin said in his clearest statement yet on the subject. "We have some concerns connected to the applications of the obligations we have to take."
Bureau Report