Trade and consequences. THE NEXT stage of President Obama’s “reset” with Russia will include trade favors, if the administration has its way. The president has promised the regime of Vladimir Putin that he will support Russia’s long-delayed accession to the World Trade Organization this year. For that to happen, Georgia, a U.S. ally subjected to a Russian invasion in 2008, must still sign off. Also, Congress must grant Russia fully normalized trade relations to avoid a conflict under WTO rules once Moscow is admitted. That means exempting Russia from a 1974 law conditioning trade on Russia’s emigration policies. The law, known as Jackson-Vanik, is outdated; it was passed to try to force the Soviet Union to allow Jews to emigrate.
But granting Russia trade privileges now rightly seems to many in Congress to be an unwarranted concession to a regime that, under Mr. Not infrequently the two go together. The case captured the attention of Sen. EU-Russia summit overshadowed by E. coli vegetable ban. 9 June 2011Last updated at 01:10 Farmers have suffered major losses amid fears about the safety of eating fresh produce EU and Russian leaders are due to open a two-day summit, amid concerns at Moscow's ban on EU vegetable imports following a deadly E. coli outbreak. Brussels has condemned last week's measure as "disproportionate", but Russia says it wants to know the source of the outbreak before lifting the ban. The outbreak has so far left at least 26 dead, most of them in Germany. At the talks in Nizhny Novgorod, the EU and Russia will also discuss gas pipeline projects and visa-free travel. Meanwhile, the EU has increased to 210m euros (£187m) its offer of compensation to farmers who have lost income due to E. coli crisis. 'No expectations' Ahead of the bi-annual summit in the city on the Volga river, Dutch Agriculture Minister Hans Bleker downplayed hopes for a quick resolution of the rift between the two sides over last Thursday's ban on vegetables. 'Infections dropping'
Putin, in Outburst, Dismisses W.T.O. Rules. U.S. Official on Russia-Georgia WTO Talks. U.S. Official on Russia-Georgia WTO Talks There might be “a creative solution” to Russia-Georgia WTO-related dispute by providing transparency of border crossing points in the breakaway regions without putting there Georgian customs officials, a senior White House official said on April 15.
Georgian and Russian negotiators are expected to meet for a next round of Swiss-mediated talks in Bern on April 28-29, it was reported on Monday. After their meeting in March – the first one since the August, 2008 war – Russia accused Georgia of “politicizing” WTO talks by demanding to put its customs officials on the border crossing points on the Russian border in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia said it was not mixing political issues with the trade while dealing with Russia’s WTO entry terms and that its demands were related with trade and the need for transparent movement of goods across the border. “But there is this fundamental issue about border,” he said. Georgia Says Keeps ‘Helpful’ Position in WTO Talks. Moscow and Tbilisi are trying “to draw positions closer” in talks over Russia’s WTO bid, Nino Kalandadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on March 14. She denied Moscow’s claims that terms pushed by Tbilisi in exchange for its consent over Russia’s WTO membership were “politicized”.
“We are demanding nothing special,” Kalandadze said, adding that Georgia “is in no way” mixing political issues with the trade while dealing with Russia’s WTO entry terms. “We are maximally constructive in the ongoing dialogue. We try to have a helpful position. At the same time it is our principle position to secure interests of Georgia,” she said at a news conference. “We are talking exclusively about legal and technical issues,” she said, but declined to go further into details saying that talks are at initial stage. “The first meeting, which was held [in Bern on March 10], aimed at maximum rapprochement of the positions.
Russia’s WTO conundrum | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times. Georgia says ready to continue WTO talks with Russia. Georgia's deputy foreign minister dismissed on Monday Russian media rumors that Georgia has broken off talks on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. "Negotiations are in process and their continuation is in our best interests," Nino Kalandadze said. Russia is the only major economy still outside the organization but Georgia says it will not allow Russia to join unless it cedes control of customs in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Kalandadze said the second round of talks would begin in around six weeks. The first round, now complete, was resumed on March 10, 2011 after being suspended for almost three years. The European Union gave its formal backing to the entry bid in December last year after Russia agreed to trim timber export duties and rail freight tariffs.
TBILISI, March 21 (RIA Novosti)