This paper summarizes the estimates of what Russia will get from World Trade Organization accession and why. A key finding is the estimate that Russia will gain about $53 billion per year in the medium term from World Trade Organization accession and $177 billion per year in the long term, due...

The twelve members of the Commonwealth of Independent States established a Free Trade Area to help maintain trade among each other. More recently, Belarus, Kazakstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Russia agreed, in principle, to establish a Customs Union (CU). The paper concludes that the dynamic...

The general principle is that it is crucial for the government to provide a stable macroeconomic environment conducive to business development with a clear, transparent and neutral regulatory environment and neutral incentives to all firms and industries. Clear, transparent and neutral...

The desiccation of the Aral Sea was one of the greatest environmental disasters of the latter part of the twentieth century. In 1960, it was the fourth largest lake in the world. However, since 1965, the sea has lost seventy five percent of its volume and the coastline has advanced hundred...

What is the structure of the Most-Favored Nation (MFN) tariff of Russia? How has it been changing over time? What are the sectors in which tariffs are high or low? How diverse is the tariff structure of Russia? Surprisingly, these questions have not been answered to date due to a lack of data...

In this paper, developed as part of the World Bank's Poverty Reduction Strategy Sourcebook, the authors examine how to implement trade liberalization as part of a strategy for alleviating poverty in developing countries. They discuss trade policy instruments, institutions, complementary...

The authors estimate that the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), the EU-MERCOSUR agreement, and multilateral trade policy changes will all be beneficial for Brazil. The Brazilian government strategy of simultaneously negotiating the FTAA and the EU-MERCOSUR agreement, while supporting...