Negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO will begin between Georgian and Russian representatives in Bern on Wednesday. The Georgian delegation will be led by Tamara Koviridze, chief foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Mikheil Saakashvili.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon has appointed his eldest son to a senior post in the government, fueling speculation that the veteran leader may be grooming him as his successor.
Germany's Volkswagen and GAZ Group plan a joint venture to produce 300,000 cars per year in Russia, two auto industry sources told Reuters on Friday. The joint venture will make a range of Volkswagen brands including the Jetta, Skoda Octavia and Skoda Yeti models, the sources said. The Russian press departments of both firms declined to comment on the matter.
New rules supposed to make expatriates' lives easier are to come into force Tuesday, but experts fear that they will actually produce new headaches. The positive news is that foreigners will no longer be required to de-register when they leave their place of residence for more than three working days.
A humorous R&B video allegedly featuring Vladivostok’s customs officers has given Russian Internet users much to talk about – though opinions are divided on whether or not the clip is actually offensive.
Russia could share its experiences on entering the Customs Union, between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, with Kyrgyzstan, Andrei Belyaninov, the head of Russia's Customs Service said on Thursday.
Looking back on the year gone by, I will run through the most significant events affecting taxpayers, the business climate and the Russian tax system. It is encouraging to see that there is more good news than bad. The main news is that one expected bad thing in particular did not happen. The State Duma did not pass the Finance Ministry’s proposed version of the transfer pricing bill. This gives us some hope that, in 2011, lawmakers will come up with a sensible law, rather than a passing vague one that could see businesses required — out of the blue — to pay additional tax.
Since October 2010, the manufacturers and importers of copying equipment such as computers and cell phones and media such as CDs and memory sticks have been required to pay 1 percent of the customs value of goods sold as compensation to be paid to authors. This levy is in essence a new tax. The Civil Code (Article 1245) stipulates that authors, performers and producers of written and audiovisual works be compensated for the free copying of their works for private use.
Russia has high chances of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Saturday. "For the first time in 10 years since I have been dealing with the issue of Russia's accession to the WTO, I believe indeed that the chances that Russia will join the WTO are real," Lamy told the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Russia may complete talks on joining the World Trade Organization as early as in April, with just a couple of issues remaining unsolved, the Economic Development Ministry said Tuesday. “It's technically possible to complete the talks in April,” said Maxim Medvedkov, head of the ministry's Trade Negotiation Department, which would allow accession by early 2012.
