Chinese Taipei, 4.8 percent; China, 9.1 percent; Moldova, 6.0 percent; Croatia, 5.5 percent; Oman, 11.6 percent; Albania, 6.6 percent; Georgia, 6.5 percent; Jordan, 15.2 percent; Estonia, 7.3 percent; Latvia, 9.4 percent; Kyrgyz Republic, 6.7 percent.<sup>13</sup> Thus, by the standards of countries that have acceded to the WTO in the last eight years that are not “Least Developing Countries,” Russia appears to have acceded with bound tariffs slightly higher than average, i.e., no excessive demands from the Working Party here.

**Services.** In the area of services, no simple measure like an average tariff is available. But an examination of the table of commitments of the countries that have acceded to the WTO since 1998 (WTO, 2005, table 5) shows that that all of them have assumed a rather high and comprehensive level of commitments, in terms of sectors included. On a qualitative basis, the more detailed discussion above on banking and insurance does not suggest an above average level of commitments in these important sectors. On the contrary, Russia has been able to avoid a commitment to branches of banks, unlike almost all of these countries.

**Agriculture.** Although trade-distorting subsidies (subsidies that are dependent on exports or production) are constrained by the WTO **, t** he WTO allows without any constraints publicly funded subsidies to agriculture that are not trade-distorting. These types of subsidies are known as “Green Box” subsidies. Green Box subsidies include a wide range of publicly funded measures including research and development, pest control, general and specialist training, extension and advisory services, inspection services for health and sanitary reasons, marketing and promotion services, infrastructure services, including electricity, roads and environmental expenditures, targeted support to low income population through food stamps or subsidized prices, direct payments to producers to support income provided it has minimal trade-distorting features , crop insurance subsidies for natural disasters, adjustment assistance through producer retirement programs and indirect income support not related to prices. The world-wide trend is to move agricultural support away from trade-distorting subsidies toward Green Box measures. In part, this is because it is generally recognized that trade-distorting subsidies are a highly inefficient way of helping agricultural producers compared with Green Box measures. And Green Box measures are more effective at creating a competitive agricultural sector in the long run.

Nonetheless, incumbent members of the WTO, like the European Union, Canada, the United States and Norway, have a base period for trade-distorting agricultural subsidies that allows considerable trade-distorting subsidies. The precedent among acceding countries, however, is that the three year period prior to accession forms the base period for permitted trade-distorting subsidies, and trade-distorting subsidies are negotiated down from that base. Although it is good for the Russian economy, the problem for Russian WTO accession negotiators is that in recent years Russia has had a rather low level of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies; but Russia would like to retain the right to U.S. trade-distorting subsidies in agriculture in the future. This issue was not resolved during the bilateral phase of the negotiations and will be one of the most 13 Two of the “Least Developed Nations” acceded with relatively high bound tariffs: Cambodia, 17.7 percent; and Nepal, 23.7 percent. But the WTO accords a preferential status to developing countries.

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