OREANDA-NEWS. The Second Almaty Business Forum took place in Almaty, the Republic of Kazakhstan, on June 5-6. A CCI of Russia delegation led by Chamber President Sergey Katyrin was attending it.

The Forum theme was Accession of Common Economic Space member countries to WTO – opportunities, prospects and reality for small and medium business of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. This and related issues – development of new transport routes, efficient use of Caspian resources and others – were being discussed not only at the plenary meeting but also at roundtables, seminars and other Forum events.

CCI of Russia President Sergey Katyrin addressed the Forum plenary meeting. Negotiations on Kazakhstan’s entry into the WTO are almost over, he said. Concerns, hopes and fears of Kazakh businessmen in this regard are quite understandable – the Russian business community used to feel the same and still does to a degree.

Referring to Russian experience, Sergey Katyrin told the audience about opportunities and instruments that national business possesses to resist new challenges and difficulties under the circumstances of the country’s membership in WTO.

Russia has not witnessed a sharp and immediate decline in tariff market protection since the WTO accession protocol was ratified due to the approved transitional periods, in which the original rates of import duties are changing gradually. The decline is less than 3% for industrial commodities and approximately the same for agricultural products. Relatively long transitional periods of five to seven years were established for more sensitive commodities. At the same time, the government can support natural producers within the coordinated limits.

The lowering of import duties, which business feared so much in the entry into the WTO, helped reduce costs of enterprises in many areas. For instance, the reduction of duties makes expedient the imports of machines and equipment for industrial modernization purposes. Accession to the WTO also reduces the cost of capital: new actors come to the market and their arrival broadens financial instruments. These circumstances plus state support make it possible to modernize fixed assets of enterprises and raise skills of personnel. Besides, affiliation to the WTO reduces costs of industrial and managerial technologies.

One should also remember that customs tariff rates are not the only instrument of national market protection. For instance, EU countries are rather well protected with non-tariff means, such as standards and certification procedures.

WTO rules provide ample possibilities to fight dumping. It is allowed to raise duties and protect the national market in the case of deliberate dumping by foreign companies. Many WTO member countries are actively using this instrument, Sergey Katyrin said.

It is very important to train sufficient number of skilled specialists on time. It would be impossible to give correct and successful protection to national interests in the WTO without them. Life shows that no less than 300 persons need to be trained for guarding national interests in the WTO. These must be top-notch professionals. It is also important to organize consultations for businessmen, primarily heads of small and medium companies. The CCI of Russia has an educational establishment, the International Institute of Management for Business Associations. The Institute and the Russian Economic Development Ministry held a series of business seminars last year to explain WTO norms and rules and conditions of Russia’s entry into the organization. The International Business Center, Russia in the WTO, has been opened at JSC World Trade Center.

As to the government’s ability to support national producers in the WTO, Sergey Katyrin cited the example of the agro-industrial sector: quotas on imports of commodities sensitive for Russia – pork, beef and poultry – remained after the accession to the WTO. Governmental efforts include modernization and construction of pig farms, as pork is the most sensitive commodity. This form of support to farmers is allowed in the WTO: budget funds can be assigned for improving the countryside infrastructure – roads, energy supply, gas supply, selection works, and social affairs.

Naturally, this does not mean that business can afford to change nothing or almost nothing in its operations under the WTO circumstances. This is an erroneous position. As time passes, competition will be tightening. Companies, which stop their development and transformations, will be defeated in the end. This must be understood and remembered.

In conclusion the CCI of Russia President noted that efficient operation under the WTO circumstances required a clear relationship between the government and businesses. The government should timely receive information from the business community about obstacles to domestic goods and services on foreign markets and information about the level of satisfaction with “rules of the game” in certain economic sectors and which changes would be desirable in the medium- and long-term prospect. In this context business unions and associations, which express interests of business and mediate relations with the authorities, play a special role, said Sergey Katyrin in the end of his speech.

Sergey Katyrin also addressed the audience at the opening of the Fourth Russian-Kazakh industrial exhibition, Expo – Russia Kazakhstan 2013.

The fifth meeting of the advisory council of the chambers of commerce and industry of member countries of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space was held on the sidelines of the Business Forum. The meeting took place in the open format and involved representatives of territorial chambers of Russia and Kazakhstan. A unified procedure for the issue of certificates of goods’ origin in the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space, mechanisms of the implementation of national regimes in the access to state (municipal) procurement, current uses of ATA carnets in Kazakhstan, interaction with working bodies of the Eurasian Economic Commission and some others were on the meeting agenda. A decision was made upon the end of debates.

On the last day of the Forum, June 6, the exchange of contracts will open to offer businessmen and investors of the two countries to establish new contacts, find partners and agree on doing business together.