Putin says Russia could abandon WTO rules

President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that Russia would scrap global trade rules it has voluntarily adopted if she failed to get a deal with the United States over its bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Russia wants to reach a trade deal with the United States for WTO entry by the July 15-17 Group of Eight summit in the northern city of St Petersburg, a senior Putin aide said.

The United States is the biggest stumbling block to Russian entry to the trading club, and talks with Washington have snagged ? some say stalled ? over issues such as access to Russia?s financial markets and intellectual property rights.

?Russia is still not a member of the World Trade Organisation and the only country with which we have not agreed about accession is the United States,? Putin told business leaders in televised comments.

Putin was meeting Marcus Wallenberg, chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, which works to promote trade.

?If we for some reason do not succeed in reaching a final agreement, we will relieve ourselves of the commitments on some agreements which we have not only taken but that we are fulfilling while not even being a member of the organisation.?

Russia has sought entry to the WTO since 1993. A small army of Russian officials has spent years changing rules governing trade and the economy as Russia moves slowly towards membership.

Putin will host world leaders including President George W. Bush at a G8 summit in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg at the end of next week.

Sergei Prikhodko, a Putin aide, said he hoped Russia could agree with the United States on WTO entry by the G8 summit.

Barker urges more planning flexibility

Britain?s planning system needs to be more flexible and responsive if business is to meet the challenges of globalisation, a Treasury-commissioned report said yesterday.

British finance minister Gordon Brown charged Bank of England policymaker Kate Barker in December to carry out a full-scale review of Britain?s planning process which business says is undermining competitiveness.

In her interim report, which was immediately criticised by environmentalists as being too pro-business, Barker argued the changing global economy means the context for business decision making has changed and the planning system needs to reflect that.

Brown has said that he wants to introduce legislation by the end of the year following the recommendation of the Barker review as part of a package of structural reforms that are needed to make sure Britain does not get left behind.

Businesses argue that bureaucratic delays in getting planning permission for new projects are holding them back from making new investments despite past government attempts to speed up the process.

Pfizer , the world?s largest pharmaceuticals group, is said to have abandoned a plan to locate its European headquarters in Britain because of planning constraints, opting for Germany instead.

Asked at a news conference whether planning laws were holding back business investment, Barker said they did have some noticeable impact but could not altogether explain the weakness of capital spending.

The report said that much of the complexity in the current system that has been so frustrating for business lies in the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act which centralised many of the levers of planning policy away from local communities.