Russia Stands For Preservation Of WTO Framework, Basic Principles - Prime Minister

Faizan Hashmi Published November 19, 2018 | 02:23 PM

Russia speaks for preserving the framework and basic principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

HANOI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2018) Russia speaks for preserving the framework and basic principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

"You asked on which side our country is. We are on our side, of course, on the side of the national interests of the Russian Federation ... But there are positions that are closer to us ... Of course, we are closer to the position that envisages not giving up the advantages of the WTO, keeping the framework of this organization, trying to modernize it, preserving the basic principles of the work of the WTO institutions, reforming the arbitration procedure," Medvedev told reporters, summarizing the outcomes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which came to an end in Papua New Guinea on Sunday.

According to the prime minister, this point of view is shared by the majority of countries but not all of them, for example, the United States, which believes that everything should be left as it is.

"I think such an approach is not very forward-looking," Medvedev said.