In the midst of all the bustle, time passed quickly. Before they knew it, October had arrived, and Wang Ye had to prepare to lead a delegation to Hong Kong for the Sixth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference.
The purpose, naturally, was to formally sign bilateral WTO accession agreements with the European Union and the United States at this conference, officially joining the World Trade Organization!
For this trip, Wang Ye was going under the title of "Director of the Russian WTO Accession Preparatory Office."
The title might not sound impressive, but the authority it carried was considerable!
The Kremlin had authorized this office to make its own decisions at the negotiating table regarding which conditions could be conceded and how far those concessions could go!
It could basically be said that at the negotiating table, Wang Ye represented the Kremlin's position. Whatever he said and whatever commitments he made were equivalent to promises made by the Kremlin itself!
This alone showed just how much more the Kremlin had come to trust Wang Ye.
Though sometimes, that trust was voluntary, and sometimes, it was forced...
Both sides had long since laid out the negotiating terms with the European Union and the United States. The Kremlin had also reviewed that list. In his view, there was basically nothing seriously wrong with the conditions on it. They were not particularly consequential; even conceding all of them would be acceptable.
On certain issues, Wang Ye's stance was actually tougher than his own...
So he was not worried that Wang Ye would pull any tricks at the negotiating table or sign any "humiliating, sovereignty-surrendering" terms.
After all, even if the formal accession agreements were signed on the spot, that did not mean the matter was finished. The bilateral agreements signed with member states during