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Medvedkov, Maxim Yurievich

Former Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation
Director of Department for Trading Negotiations at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation
Chief Negotiator for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)

Maxim Medvedkov (Максим Юрьевич Медведков) was born on January 2, 1957. In 1979 he graduated for the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) with a specialization as “foreign trade economist.”

From 1979 to 1982, Medvedkov served as an adviser and then senior adviser of the Department of Northern Countries within the Administration of Commerce with Western Countries at the Soviet Union Ministry of Foreign Trade.

From 1982, he worked as a senior economist for the Soviet Union trade mission in Switzerland.

From 1987, Medvedkov was expert, chief expert, secretary-in-chief of the Central Administrative Board of Economic Relations with Developed Capitalist Countries at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, then at the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of the Soviet Union.

From 1992, he served as department chief, deputy chief of the Central Administrative Board at the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of External Economic Relations of Russia.

In 1996, Medvedkov set up his own business enterprise; he worked as a consultant on issues concerning trade policy, and served as the director-general of the Center of Trade Policy and Law.

In 2000, Medvedkov returned to public service, becoming the deputy minister of economy development and trade of the Russian Federation. In February 2001, he was made chief negotiator of the Russian delegation for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In December 2002, he was appointed a member of the governmental commission on protective measures in foreign trade and customs-tariff policy.

At the end of April 2004, following the reorganization of the government structure, Medvedkov was dismissed from his post as deputy minister of economy development and trade and was subsequently appointed as the director of the department for trading negotiations at the ministry of economic development.

Since his introduction to this position, Medvedkov repeatedly gave conservative forecasts vis-à-vis Russia’s accession to the WTO. According to media sources at the time of his appointment in April 2004, he notably declared that “as a conservative outlook on present conditions, I can say that Russia will join the WTO before I retire.”

At the end of April 2006, Medvedkov was noted in expressing the positive effect entry into the WTO will have for the Russian consumer:

“For the population itself, employment will rise. If we speak more concretely, prices of medicine will be lowered; the prices of a substantial amount of daily consumer goods will also be reduced. The price of medication will be lowered because we will decrease the duties incurred by intermediary processes on those pharmaceutical products and medical goods which are not produced in Russia.

The same will occur with electro-technical goods, which are not made in Russia, and many others. In other words, the cost of living in the country will become less expensive on the basis that the market will be competitive.”

Aside from his public duties, Medvedkov holds a teaching post as a professor and head of the department of trade policy at the state-run university, the Higher School of Economics. He teaches courses on “Russia and the WTO,” and “Prospects of Developing a Multilateral Trading System.”

Medvedkov is married and has two daughters.

Related Sources

Lenta.Ru, Biography of Maxim Medvedkov (In Russian)
Wikipedia, Biography of Maxim Medvedkov (In Russian)
Gazeta.Ru, “Maxim Medvedkov will go to Geneva before his pension,” April 5, 2004
Lexim.Ru, “Medvedkov: The consumer will win from Russia’s entry into the WTO,” April 30, 2006

Last updated September 18, 2008