Russia and the United States signed a bilateral deal Sunday for
Moscow's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), removing
the last major obstacle in Russia's 13-year-old bid to join the
global trade body.
The agreement was signed by Russia's Economy Minister German
Gref and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab on the sidelines of
the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum in Hanoi.
The signing was timed to take place before a meeting between
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush,
who both took part in the APEC forum Sunday.
"Undoubtedly, this agreement is a very substantial milestone in
the full integration of Russia into the global economy," Gref told
reporters after the signing ceremony.
Russia, the last major economy outside the 149-member trade
body, would benefit from a "significant increase" in global trade
after joining the world trade body, Schwab said.
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US business groups have welcomed the pact, which officials said
removes long-standing Russian obstacles to US beef, pork and
poultry exports and required Moscow to cut tariffs on a long list
of agricultural and manufactured goods.
Russia has also agreed to open up its services sector and to
combat piracy and counterfeiting of foreign goods.
Gref told reporters on Saturday personal contacts between Putin
and Bush played a key role in speeding up the deal, the last and
most difficult in a string of 56 similar agreements signed by
Russia in the past six years. "The next stage, multilateral talks,
normally takes 6-8 months," Gref said. "We would want to finalize
the whole process by mid-2007," he said.
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The US-Russia deal could yet face a rough ride from the
Democrat-led US Congress, although lawmakers do not have the power
to block Russia's accession to the WTO.
Some Russian analysts have speculated that Bush, who needs a
strong political boost after the Republican defeat in the mid-term
polls, pushed for a WTO deal with Russia in the hope of getting
Putin's support on issues like Iran or Iraq.
But Gref denied any link. "The basic issues were agreed before
the US elections," he said.
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US to lift warplane sanctions
Russia said Sunday Bush had decided to lift sanctions imposed
for selling restricted items to Iran on Russian warplane
manufacturer Sukhoi.
"This question was discussed. Bush said that, after an
additional examination of the problem, a decision was made to lift
sanctions from Sukhoi," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after
talks between Bush and Putin.
In August, the United States announced sanctions against seven
firms from Russia, India, North Korea and Cuba for selling
restricted items to Iran, which Washington fears is trying to make
nuclear weapons.
(China Daily November 20, 2006)
