. /.  
WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/ACC/RUS/68 
27 October 2011 
 (11-5396) 
Working Party on the 
Accession of the Russian Federation Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION 
 
Communication from Georgia 
 
Letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, H.E. Mr. Grigol VASHADZE 
 
 The following communication, dated 26 October 2011, addressed to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, is being circulated  at the request of the Delegation of Georgia. 
 
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 I have the honor to transmit a letter from H.E. Mr. Grigol Vashadze, the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs of Georgia, raising the concerns of the Gove rnment of Georgia in regards to procedures on the 
accession process of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization (WTO).  
 On behalf of the Government of Georgia, I w ould like to hereby request that you circulate the 
enclosed letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia to the distinguished membership of the 
WTO at your earliest convenience.  
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  The present communication aims to express Georgia's position regarding the timing of the 
formal meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of the Russian Federation.  It is a follow up of 
our written communication transmitted to the Chairman  of the Working Party and Director of the 
Accessions Division on 11 October 2011 a nd of subsequent verbal communication. 
 
 The communication circulated on 11 October by  the WTO Secretariat to the Working Party 
on the Accession of the Russian Federation and subs equent communication with the Chairman of the 
Working Party and the Head of the Accessi ons division raise serious concerns. 
  We are deeply concerned about the fact that it is anticipated to convene a formal meeting of 
the Working Party on 10 - 11 November in contradiction of WTO rules and practice. 
  As you are well aware, the WTO is guided by the procedures and customary practices that have served the Organization well in the past.  The WT O Secretariat has prepared Notes that set out in 
detail the accession procedures and customary practices th at have been followed in the past and that 
inform current procedures and practices.  For exam ple, the Technical Note on the Accession Process 
(WT/ACC/10/Rev.4), states that 'the organizati on and the pursuit of accession negotiations in each 
Working Party follow a well-established pattern based on procedures set out in a note by the 
Secretariat - document WT/ACC/1 of March 24, 1995. '  Respectively, the ab ove-mentioned Note by 
the Secretariat (WT/ACC/1), clearly indicates that 'the  dates of the meetings are set after the agenda 
has been agreed in informal c onsultations', whereby such agreem ent is reached by consensus.  
This well-established procedure has been also follo wed since the WTO was established, and should be 
respected in the present case. WT/ACC/RUS/68 
Page 2  
 
  We would like to draw your attention to the f act that Georgia has repeatedly indicated, both in 
writing and verbally, that it is not in a position to ag ree to holding of a formal meeting of the Working 
Party on 10 - 11 November unless bilateral negotiati ons with the Russian Federation on its accession 
to the WTO are concluded at that time and a b ilaterally acceptable solution is found.  In the 
above-mentioned written communication by Georgia dated 11 October, we expressed deep concern 
about the reference in the convening fax of the Secr etariat (11.10.2011) to ' unanimous support' of the 
membership for the finalization of work on Ru ssia's accession over the next few weeks and the 
submission of the Working Party recommendation on the terms of the Accession of the Russian Federation for decision to the 8
th WTO Ministerial Conference.  Georgia has not yet provided 
its consent to the specific measure, so th ere can be no assertion of 'unanimous support'. 
  Hereby it should be emphasized that curren tly Georgian-Russian negotiations under Swiss 
mediation, in which Georgia has been construc tively engaged since March 2011, are in the final 
decisive stage.  It is very much in our interest to finalize bilateral negotiations in a timely manner.  
It is the understanding and intension of the parties to reflect the outcome of the negotiations in the 
Report of the Working Party on Accession.  Th erefore, our bilateral agreement with the 
Russian Federation must be concluded before the Wo rking Party Report can be considered in a formal 
meeting of the Working Party.   Therefore, we expect that you will take into account Georgia's position, based on 
well-established accession procedures, and convene a form al meeting after a date for such meeting is 
agreed by consensus, which will o ccur after the finalization of bilateral negotiations between Georgia 
and the Russian Federation.  Please be assured that Ge orgia is very seriously committed to concluding 
its bilateral negotiations, and looks forwar d to supporting the WTO accession of the 
Russian Federation as soon as possible. 
 
 We look forward to maintaining contact with you and will inform you as soon as a bilateral agreement has been concluded between Georgia and Russia.  In the meantime, our negotiating team 
and Georgia's Ambassador to the WTO remain availa ble to meet and discuss any further details if 
necessary.  
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