Russia opens to Estonian printers

TALLINN - The United Nations has accepted Estonia as a member of an agreement that will open up the potentially lucrative Russian publishing market to Estonian printers.

Estonia printers have been waiting for months for the United Nations to approve Estonia's application to the Florence Agreement.

Signed in 1950, the agreement allows companies to import educational, scientific and cultural materials, including newspapers, magazines and books tax-free. Estonia's Parliament ratified the agreement last June, but the UN had delayed approval for more than six months.

Estonia's Foreign Ministry blamed the delay on bureaucratic foul ups with the UN.

Russia approved the Florence Agreement in 1999.

Estonian printers estimate the Russian market could provide up to 1 billion kroons ($58.8 million) in contracts.

With the agreement in place Russian publishers can now sub-contract printing orders to Estonia and then re-import the finished product without paying taxes.

Currently many Russian publishers work with printing houses in Finland, a longtime member of the agreement

Some in the Estonian printing market have criticized Scandinavian printers, particularly in Finland, for lobbying to delay Estonia's membership in the agreement.

"The quality of print in Estonia is about the same, but taxes and labor costs are lower in Estonia, and that reduces printing costs," Vadim Nesvizhski, director general of Uniprint Spb Ltd., a Russian printing house, told the Estonian newspaper Aripaev.

Nesvizhski also said that Estonians normally have a better command of Russian technical jargon, adding that Russian company executives often must travel to Finland to inspect printing equipment in person to ensure a printer can handle an order.

"Estonians are better at this point. I can discuss everything via the phone," he said.