Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1233 - 1016: Numerous Obstacles_2

Chapter 1233: Chapter 1016: Numerous Obstacles_2

Although the United States was not opposed, its allies jumped out, countries like Australia, Singapore, Canada expressed opposition.

They argued that Russia had been heavily subsidizing its domestic agriculture, creating unfair competition. If Russia wanted to join the WTO, it must eliminate its domestic agricultural subsidies, fully marketize them, and allow foreign companies to enter the Russian agricultural market...

Seeing this, Wang Ye furrowed his brows.

He was well aware of the state of domestic agriculture because he had personally driven the subsidy efforts.

The problem was, Russian agriculture was just getting started and was not yet significantly exported abroad. It merely satisfied the domestic market and supplied a small amount to a few neighboring ally countries. So why were countries like Australia, Singapore, Canada, focusing so intently on this issue?

Initially, Russia’s agriculture had no competitive relationship with theirs.

Thus, the intentions of these countries seemed somewhat unclear...

.......

After Bakova gathered all the relevant materials, Wang Ye was even more speechless after reviewing them.

Especially concerning the attitude of the Russian business community toward joining the WTO, astonishingly, 70% of the business community personnel opposed it!

Another ten percent thought that joining or not joining the WTO did not matter.

Only about twenty percent believed that joining the WTO was positive and beneficial.

The reasons of those opposed, of course, were because their industries had no competitive force when facing foreign counterparts.

Currently, as the country hadn’t joined the WTO, foreign products similar to theirs had to pay high tariffs to enter the Russian market, so they still held a competitive advantage in terms of price.

But once the country joined the WTO, the tariffs would be reduced, and a large batch of foreign goods would appear in the Russian market at more affordable prices.

By then, domestic similar products would completely lose their advantages, potentially leading to a large number of shutdowns!

It seemed that pushing for Russia to join the WTO was truly plagued with external and internal strife, full of difficulties...

However, Wang Ye was not disheartened. If it had been easy, the issue would have been resolved long ago, and it wouldn’t have dragged on for so many years to eventually land in his hands.

The process of promoting Russia’s inclusion in the WTO would involve numerous domestic and international factors and mobilize a vast amount of resources, which was in itself a form of training for his abilities...

And through this endeavor, he would meet many more foreign dignitaries, which could be considered building his contacts.

It wasn’t such a bad thing!

.......

After studying all the materials, Wang Ye planned out a proposal to promote joining the WTO.

The first step, naturally, was to garner the support of the majority of the Economic Committee members.

Therefore, Wang Ye quickly convened a thematic seminar. The sole topic of the meeting was to discuss the pros and cons of Russia joining the WTO. He aimed to standardize opinions and reach a consensus during the meeting.

This meeting’s participants were limited to the Committee members; representatives like government officials, business world representatives, and legal experts were not invited.

Since the committee had not yet reached a consensus, there was no need to expand the scope. After all, one must eat one bite at a time, and proceed step-by-step.

As expected, the meeting had just begun and several members started debating, with some supporting and others opposing the WTO membership.

The main points of the supporting side were as follows:

"Joining the WTO would integrate the national economy into the global economy, promoting economic development."

"Only by opening our doors and actively embracing the global economy can our economy develop more healthily."

"The vast majority of economies worldwide have joined the WTO. If we don’t, it’s like isolating ourselves from the world, which is also not conducive to expanding our country’s influence internationally."

"Our export goods, especially metal products, have long been subject to high tariffs abroad. If we could join the WTO, these tariffs would decrease, benefiting the export of our bulk commodities!"

The opposition also had their say, mainly focusing on:

"We can’t just see the benefits of joining the WTO; we must also consider the downsides."

"Given the structure of our industries, they simply cannot withstand the impact of mature foreign industries. I bet that as soon as we open up, there will definitely be a widespread shutdown of physical industries!"

"Over the years, we have barely managed to develop some industries, which still lack competitiveness internationally. I think there is no rush to join the WTO now. It would be better to wait until our domestic industries have matured more."

"As for other industries, just look at our financial sector. All our banks combined have assets that are less than any major bank in Europe and the United States! How can we compete with others? Can the financial industry be opened up?"...

Wang Ye listened to everyone’s debate with a smile and did not interrupt.

When everyone had debated until they were tired and their voices had quieted, he finally spoke.

"I have heard everyone’s opinions. In summary, joining the WTO has both pros and cons—it’s not all good, but of course, it’s not all bad either.

So may I suggest that if we manage the timing of joining the WTO well, and during the signing of the accession agreement, we do not concede on certain industries, not allowing foreign investment to enter our market without restrictions for the time being.

Or perhaps introduce phased timings, such as opening up certain industries within five years, and others within ten years.

As for industries that are very important to us and must be protected, we could devise a twenty-year plan to gradually open them up.

That way, we can also meet the requirements of the WTO member countries while protecting some of our key industries."

Hearing what Wang Ye said, the meeting room suddenly fell silent.

Indeed, his proposal seemed to take into account the opinions of both the proponents and the opponents.

It tried to maintain the aspects beneficial for Russia while minimizing the negative impacts.

But the problem is, would the WTO member countries really agree to these protection periods of five to ten years...

Thus, a committee member raised a doubt.

"Director, if we could achieve what you’ve proposed, that would be ideal! Whoever it is would have no reason to oppose joining the WTO. But can we really negotiate such favorable terms with the WTO? As far as I know, many WTO member countries are quite dominant and often make irrational demands. To me, it seems like some countries simply don’t want us to join the WTO and are intentionally looking for faults; in that case, it might be better not to join at all!"

Clearly, this committee member was among those opposed to joining the WTO, and his points were not baseless, representing the thoughts of many opponents.

Wang Ye nodded in acknowledgment of his statement.

Then he smiled and said, "Yes, it’s precisely because it is challenging that we have dragged on for so many years without reaching a consensus. Now, the task of joining the WTO has been handed to me, so what I need to do is to protect our national interests while striving to join the WTO and enjoy the benefits of global free trade. In other words, if we can ensure that our most important domestic industries are not severely impacted, would everyone agree to join the WTO?"

In the meeting room, everyone looked at each other, and those who had been firmly opposed now seemed less resolute.

Their opposition stemmed from the fear that certain domestic industries would be impacted and collapse.

Since Wang Ye said he could protect these industries from being impacted, or at least within a stipulated time frame, their basis for opposition was gone.

After a while, everyone gradually expressed their stance—if there weren’t too many concessions, they still supported joining the WTO.

After all, global trade is a major trend and is irreversible.

The reason for their opposition was to protect domestic industries.

Seeing that the committee members all expressed support, Wang Ye nodded satisfied.

In his proposed plan, he indeed did not intend to make too many concessions. Russia’s accession to the WTO was not a matter of pleading with other countries; it was to be mutually beneficial!

Therefore, Wang Ye would definitely not agree to some countries’ overly unreasonable demands.

And for the key pillar industries or those critical to the nation’s survival, there was absolutely no way to open them immediately!