February 21, 2012 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Nizhny Novgorod Region held a conference "The main changes for business in the context of Russia's accession to the WTO and the development of the Customs Union."
The event was attended by Vice-President of the RF CCI Georgy Petrov, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Valery Shantsev, Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Yevgeny Morozov, Deputy Head of the Territorial Administration of the Federal Service for Financial and Budgetary Supervision in the Nizhny Novgorod Region Andrey Lyutin, Head of the Federal Customs Revenue Service of the Volga Customs management Nikolay Kharyushin, General Director, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Dmitry Krasnov, as well as representatives of more than 400 enterprises - member organizations of the Chamber.
The conference discussed the work of entrepreneurs in the new integration conditions, aspects of currency control in the framework of economic interaction, positive and negative points for participants in foreign economic activity in the context of the development of the Customs Union and other issues.
As part of the discussion, Valery Shantsev emphasized that with Russia's accession to the WTO, the country's enterprises enter into serious competition, therefore, they should clearly understand the processes, principles and rules of work in the new conditions. At the same time, competition implies a struggle not only for higher quality products, but also better working conditions.
In the new economic conditions, it is necessary to develop budget-forming industries, and enterprises must conduct a thorough analysis of which consumer their products are designed for and in which market they will work. According to the governor, the WTO should be used to create joint ventures with foreign companies, to study the experience of other countries. The Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the region are consolidating efforts to support entrepreneurs, explaining the main changes in the new conditions.
Continuing the discussion, Georgy Petrov noted that the WTO is a model of an open economy, which has both advantages and certain risks. Nevertheless, according to him, this is a tool, and they need to be able to use it. For this, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation holds webinars at which business has the opportunity to receive new information “firsthand”. In real time, experts answer any questions on the subject of the WTO. George Petrov drew attention to the fact that Russia has long been living according to the rules and norms of the World Trade Organization. Of course, this is the engine of technological progress, modernization of the economy, which is impossible without competition.
Dmitry Krasnov emphasized that, on the one hand, by joining the World Trade Organization, Russia is getting mechanisms that allow it to step up the promotion of domestic goods and services on foreign markets and deal with negative phenomena that are taking place in the global economy. But, on the other hand, the new conditions suggest increased competition, increased requirements for the flow of personnel. Therefore, now there is a need for an innovative approach to the economy and the formation of new consumer qualities of the goods.
Nikolai Kharyushin explained to entrepreneurs the aspects of customs administration in the territory of the Volga Federal District in the conditions of application of the legislation of the Customs Union. In 2011, an increase in commodity circulation by 18% was recorded compared to 2010, with the value of imports increasing by 26%, exports increased by 14%.
Nikolai Kharyushin drew attention to the fact that the main criteria for the work of the Office are the speed of customs operations, as well as the reduction of costs of interested parties in customs operations. This served as an impetus for the opening of projects in the region’s customs to create favorable conditions for the implementation of foreign economic activity, to increase the efficiency and adequacy of customs control and to reduce unproductive costs.
At the same time, he noted that as part of the ongoing work, the customs authorities of the Volga region were confused by the participants in foreign economic activity.
Firstly, far from all of them are ready to speak openly about the problems causing additional costs, ways to reduce them and expressed unwillingness to work in this direction. This is typical for all regions.
Secondly, individual representatives of enterprises confuse the concepts of production and non-production costs. Non-productive costs should be calculated and planned at the stage of developing the conditions of the contract and its signing.
Nevertheless, the results of a survey of foreign economic activity participants prove the opposite. When asked how often the actions of the customs authorities lead to unjustified costs, 54% of respondents answered that it is rare, 42% never. In addition, within the framework of this study, it was found that 25% of foreign economic activity participants do not take into account the costs incurred. At the same time, in a number of customs offices, this figure reaches 40%. This suggests that these enterprises do not have an accounting policy that meets modern requirements, in particular, management accounting, accounting for economic costs, and possible costs are included in the cost of the final product without actual analysis and making appropriate management decisions.
Lyubov Sirotkina spoke about an innovative project for the production of advanced egg processing products, launched in March 2009. She stressed that since the enterprise was initially focused on the production of products that meet European requirements, Russia's accession to the WTO has a significant plus for them: it should facilitate access to new markets, in which competition prevails in this segment mainly in terms of quality indicators.
The proposals made during the conference will be summarized and sent to the relevant ministries and departments. It is planned to continue to continue an open dialogue on this issue.
“So that you understand - today we spend so much on supporting the countryside that there is no talk of any reduction in the volume of state support for agriculture. The level of customs protection of the village for none of the basic agricultural products is not reduced, and for a number of them Russia has the right to even increase the rates of import customs duties during the transition period. In addition, the right to use tariff quotas for beef, pork and poultry meat was fixed.
Accession to the WTO is still a challenge to our manufacturer. He will have to work harder. Pay a lot of attention to quality, structure implementation. But it is especially important that the WTO will give us the opportunity to develop our own exports. We will have access to foreign markets. All this will increase the competitiveness of domestic products, we will be able to adapt them to world standards.
In general, we have a whole range of measures to develop peasant farms. For example, we give grants to novice farmers on average one and a half million rubles (by the way, we are already selecting novice farmers for this program). We continue to provide serious financial support to family farms. We have already built 470 family farms under this program. And we plan to introduce 150 more annually ... "
The agricultural sector will not be left to the "invisible hand" of the market against the background of Russia's accession to the WTO, assured Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin in Ufa at the All-Russian Agrarian Forum. The accession of Russia to the World Trade Organization gives, according to the Prime Minister, additional opportunities for Russian agricultural producers, gives them access to foreign markets. In order to adequately protect the interests of exporters and producers, according to Putin, you need to be a full member of such an organization as the WTO.
Among the advantages of joining the WTO, Vladimir Putin highlighted the increased transparency and attractiveness of the national economy, as well as tools against unfair competition:
According to Elena Skrynnik, which she expressed at Green Week in Berlin, there will be no death in joining the WTO. Russia may increase state support to $ 9 billion from 2013 and gradually reduce it to $ 4,4 billion by 2018.
“The whole arsenal of tools to support Russian farmers must be correctly put into promising programs for the development of domestic agribusiness. Otherwise, we will face a violation of our interests.
Russia has a lot of protection tools within the country, it is only necessary for the concerned departments to think in advance about how to implement them. We already live 90 percent in accordance with international rules and requirements based on the principles of the WTO.
Some sensitive industries have special adaptation measures. This, in particular, the auto industry and agricultural machinery. In the field of agriculture - this is poultry and pig farming.
The programs for the integrated development of agriculture have already provided support for $ 5,5 billion, and next year - in the amount of $ 9 billion. "