Russian unease by the country's entrance in the WTO

Immigrant workers, collect strawberries in the state farm Lenin's fields, that was a collective company and now is one of the most successful around Moscow.

The director Pavel Grudinin said that his strawberries are the best in the Russian capital as they arrive from the farm to stores in less than 24 hours.

But, as Russia is, since last week, in the World Trade Organization, Grudinin is worried that the rules made to assure the fair trade will be a disadvantage to him. He says that it will be very hard to compete with producers in the United States and Europe as they can offer smaller prices because they don't have to deal with bureaucracy and corruption.

The Parliament must approve the incorporation on the 10 of July, as the Russian president Vladimir Putin - who's party dominates the Parliament - said that the entrance in the WTO will bring bigger external investments and will make Russian companies more competitive.

Grudinin believes that these idealizations don't account for the non-stop inspections and official revisions.

"That's why we are not competitive," he said. "We don't get much support if compared with European or US farmers. It would be better if we first face corruption and then get into the WTO and not the other way around."

Source:Terra