Ministers are tomorrow expected to put Russia on track to become a member of the World Trade Organisation in 2012. Countless hours of negotiations, spanning 18 years and several generations of ministers, are nearing a successful conclusion. Yet doubts remain. Have the delays not largely been due to Russia’s own actions, ask WTO members? The Russians too have doubts: will the benefits of membership offset the discomfort of WTO-imposed disciplines and accountability? Amid all the uncertainty on the Russian stage, does WTO membership still make sense? My answer is: yes, yes and yes.
各國部長將在周五的會議上，把俄羅斯送上2012年成為世界貿易組織(WTO)成員國的列車。經過長達18年的努力，幾代部長更迭之后，已經花費了無數個小時的談判終于接近了一個成功的終點。然而疑慮仍然存在。WTO各成員國會問，談判久拖不決很大程度上不是因為俄羅斯的自身舉動而造成的嗎？俄羅斯也心存疑慮：加入WTO得到的利益能否彌補WTO強加于身的規則和問責要求？在俄羅斯局勢如此不穩的情況下，加入WTO是否還有意義？我對這三個問題的答案都是肯定的。