Bush administration cites “steady progress” on Russia’s WTO accession
The Bush administration said it’s making “steady progress” on efforts to conclude bilateral negotiations with Russia on its accession to the World Trade Organization.Administration officials met with their Russian counterparts last week to try to resolve trade issues that could prevent Russia’s readiness to join the WTO.
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portmann said in a statement Wednesday that lingering trade issues with Russia are “not new problems and they are not dissimilar to those issues addressed by others who have acceded to the WTO.”
He added: “Russia must live up to the rules and obligations which all WTO members accept, whether it is on sanitary and phytosanitary standards, customs regulations or greater protections for intellectual property rights, for example.”
