Speaking after a new round of bilateral WTO accession talks in St. Petersburg, German Gref said the U.S. negotiators had insisted Russia should grant a certificate for the import of American beef and pork without an audit of the U.S. veterinary control system. They said they wanted the certificate in place before they would sign a protocol on the completion of the talks.
The Russian side refused, citing food safety concerns, Gref said, adding that two cases of mad cow disease had recently been detected in the U.S. and that the country was on a watch list for the health of its livestock.
The minister downplayed the significance of the issue, though, saying that the U.S. would never become a major supplier of meat into Russia because it had serious competitors on the market, such as Brazil and European Union countries.
However, the U.S.-Russian WTO accession talks made headway on other contentious issues, Gref said. Specifically, the sides settled all controversy surrounding intellectual property rights.
"There are four-five issues yet to be resolved, and they are mainly of procedural nature," he said, but stopped short of revealing whether the issue of opening U.S. banks in Russia was one of them.
"I would not want to comment on any specific agreements until the whole package is agreed upon," he said, but added that "we have an understanding on the financial services sector."
