Russian Agriculture Ministry negatively assess WTO membership, and the industry has restored only with the help of Russia's food embargo.
Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Friday that nothing had come of the country's membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the industry has restored only with the help of Russia's food embargo, Sputnik reports.
"[WTO membership] during the last five years has not meant anything for us, for the agriculture industry. It has given just nothing, no advantages," Tkachev said at the 2016 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
According to the minister, Russia succeeded in restoring agricultural production by imposing retaliatory measures in August 2014.
"We have learned to live without Europe with regard to food, we will learn to pay attention to our processing capacities and develop our own equipment. WTO will be useful for us when we will deal with exports. But this is not a crucial issue for us," the minister concluded.
