Russia,EU negotiating disagreements over WTO regulations

Russia and the European Union have started negotiations over differences on guidelines of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said Thursday. Maxim Medvedkov, head of the ministry's trade negotiation department, said the parties met in Geneva for two days of negotiations and discussed reciprocal complaints in the context of the WTO. Russia and EU have different visions on the adoption of several mutual trade measures which, in their point of view, fall outside their relevant obligations at the WTO, Medvedkov told Interfax news agency. The EU has complained about utilization fees for used cars in Russia, import bans on some live animals, and import tariffs on certain goods. Russia was concerned with measures adopted by the EU under the so-called Third Energy Package, EU's anti-dumping measures and restrictions on the transit of certain Russian chemical products. The Third Energy Package stipulates the separation of gas companies' generation and sale operations from their transmission networks. Russian gas giant Gazprom falls under that definition and on that basis seeks an exemption from the rule.