Väyrynen demands discussion of wood tariff dispute at EU-Russia Summit

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On Wednesday the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen (Centre) pressed the European Union to bring up the dispute over Russian timber tariffs, which is threatening the Finnish forest industry, at the summit in Samara on Friday between the EU and Russia.
      Väyrynen discussed the subject with the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson at an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris.
      "I stressed to him the need for a quick solution to the issue. I hoped that if at all possible the subject could be brought up in Samara one way or another", said Väyrynen.
      Mandelson himself will not be attending the EU-Russia summit meeting, but according to Väyrynen he promised to pass on to Commission President José Manuel Barroso the message that the matter was "increasingly urgent and important".
     
Russia plans to increase sharply its export tariffs on raw timber. This would make for serious problems for the Finnish forest sector, which relies on imports across the eastern border to keep plants working to capacity.
      Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) has earlier commented that in his estimation wood imports from Russia would, for all practical purposes, come to a grinding halt if the proposed hikes are implemented.
      Only a few days ago, UPM announced temporary lay-offs of 2,400 employees at its plywood mills as a result of declining imports of birch logs.
      The reasons are currently climatic, but the anticipated tariff rise has raised fears that the import shortfall could be a permanent one.
     
Väyrynen will attempt to discuss the matter with the Russian Trade & Economic Development Minister German Gref on Sunday and Monday. He is due to meet Gref in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan.
      According to Väyrynen, Matti Vanhanen will also meet with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov in Helsinki in the near future, and the subject will also be on the table at that meeting.
     
Opposition leader and Social Democrat chairman Eero Heinäluoma has criticised the government for a passive approach to resolving the problem. He has called for bilateral talks on the tariff dispute between Russia and Finland.
      Väyrynen notes that in fact the matter has been handled at the bilateral level the entire time.
      "Formally the subject is one to be discussed between the EU and Russia, since it is linked to Russia's aspirations to become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)", Väyrynen explained.
      "But when we have existing bilateral contacts with Russia, and given that this matter is of considerable national importance to us, we have taken every possible occasion to bring it up."
     
On Wednesday the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development agreed to invite five countries to start talks about joining - Russia, Israel, Chile, Estonia, and Slovenia. The discussions are expected to take years, and according to the OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría there is no guarantee they will lead to membership.
      Matters like the dispute over wood tariffs could indirectly affect Russian membership of the OECD. According to some estimates, implementation of the tariffs would also hamper Russia's chances of securing a seat in the WTO, and in the view of Finland's Permanent Representative to the OECD, Ambassador Pertti Majanen, WTO membership is a prerequisite for Russia's joining the OECD.
     
Friday's summit is likely to find no shortage of issues for discussion: Kosovo, trade and energy questions, relations with Estonia, human rights concerns, and the proposed US missile defence system have all caused friction of late.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  UPM to start lay-off talks following shortage of birch logs (16.5.2007)
  Minister Väyrynen: Russia seeks solution for wood tariff dispute (11.5.2007)
  Russian export tariff could end timber imports into Finland (12.2.2007)

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