Yanukovich Sees 2007 WTO Entry.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich said yesterday that Ukraine’s entry to World Trade Organization would be finished in 2007 “if we don’t make it in 2006”. He said he had asked the new economy minister to tell him a realistic entry date and that he planned to hold public hearings with industry leaders to ensure that the legislation needed for WTO entry didn’t damage industry’s interests. Yanukovich made the remarks at a joint appearance with the pro-western foreign minister, Boris Tarasyuk, who insisted that entry would be finished in 2006 as stated in the “Universal” signed last week by Yanukovich and Yushchenko. Tom Warner: Yanukovich’s quick retreat from the 2006 entry date underscores that he will follow his own course and not Yushchenko’s. We think WTO entry will most likely be pushed back to 2008.