WASHINGTON, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - Two U.S. Senate and Congress committees have sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to demand more decisive action from Russia before agreeing a bilateral deal on the country's WTO accession.
Negotiations between the two countries are currently stalled over a number of American demands and Russia's insistence that it will only join the world's major trade body on what it considers favorable terms.
Charles Grassley and Max Baucus, chairmen of the Senate Committee on Finance, and Bill Thomas, who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, and committee member Charles Rangel argue in the letter that Russia is not sufficiently committed to intellectual property rights and agricultural trade standards.
"Every prospective WTO member must demonstrate its willingness, ability, and commitment to abide by WTO rules. Unfortunately, Russia has not yet done so," the letter says.
But the senators also said they fully supported the goal of Russia's accession to the global trade body "on strong, commercially meaningful terms."
They said inadequate action against piracy in Russia had cost American companies billions of dollars, and urged a science-based approach to agricultural produce imports into the world's largest country.
Russia suspended all poultry import licenses April 27, citing an abundance of fake licenses and violations of its veterinary laws, but promised to renew licenses in the near future. The U.S., a major poultry exporter, was hit the hardest by the move.
A bilateral WTO agreement with Russia will have to be approved by both the Finance and the Ways and Means committees.
Russia has yet to complete talks with three members of a 58-nation working party on its accession to the WTO - Australia, Colombia, and the U.S. Negotiations with the latter have been particularly difficult.
Chief negotiator Maxim Medvedkov said in late April that Russia was unlikely to join the organization in 2006, while some politicians and officials said there must be no hurry in the negotiating process.
"I believe that the process of Russia's accession to the WTO should be only favorable," Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in April. "If [accession] conditions do not suit our country, than it [accession] will be delayed for a long period."
Other areas of dispute include American demands that Russia allow foreign banks to open branches in the country. Russian legislation currently prohibits foreign banks from opening branches in the country, although they may set up subsidiaries, which unlike branches are held accountable to Russian law rather than the legislation of the country of the bank's origin.
