Medvedev hopes “milk row” won't impede joint Russia-Belarus WTO bid

President Dmitry Medvedev said today that he hopes Russia's dispute with Belarus over dairy supplies would not impede their joint bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan recently agreed to form a customs union and seek joint accession to the WTO. The joint customs zone is planned to come into effect on January 1, 2010, once the countries' tariffs have been unified.

''I hope this situation will not impede the development of normal cooperation in the agrarian sphere, and our coordinated efforts to join the WTO,'' Medvedev said in an interview to Russian TV Channel One.

''This is why we have created a special Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, and will now be joining the WTO together,'' he said.

Belarus briefly imposed tough customs controls on border crossings with Russia last Wednesday, but cancelled them later the same day after Moscow scrapped its ban on Belarusian dairy supplies, which brings the country 1 billion dollars in annual revenue.

Russia claimed Belarusian products had failed to comply with new regulations, despite repeated warnings.

The 'milk row' further strained ties between the two post-Soviet neighbours, who have been trying to establish a "union state." The ban, imposed earlier this month, sparked a furious reaction in Minsk, which called it "economic discrimination" and boycotted a security summit in Moscow last Sunday in protest.