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Putin, Bush may reach WTO agreement soon - business union chief-1

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Russia and the United States may reach an agreement on the former's accession to the World Trade Organization during one of the upcoming meetings of their leaders, the head of Russia's major business union said Friday.
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MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the United States may reach an agreement on the former's accession to the World Trade Organization during one of the upcoming meetings of their leaders, the head of Russia's major business union said Friday.

Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush are set to meet in Moscow November 15, and in Hanoi November 19 during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

"The announcement is highly probable. Everyone has long waited for this political decision, and delegations have done all the necessary work during negotiations. The delegations are to coordinate the final documents during a meeting between the two leaders," said Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Russia, the largest economy outside the world's leading trade body, has completed bilateral talks with 57 of the 60-member Working Party on Russia's WTO accession. Negotiations are continuing with the U.S., Moldova and Georgia.

Shokhin denied foreign media reports that referred to him as saying that Moscow and Washington have signed a WTO agreement.

"I spoke to a correspondent of one of the foreign news agencies, but I did not say an agreement had been reached," Shokhin said.

According to Shokhin, he told the interviewer that the two countries have coordinated their positions in general, which, he said, does not mean that they have signed an agreement. But Shokhin said he expects the agreement to be signed shortly.

Moscow wanted to sign a protocol with Washington at Russia's debut summit of the Group of Eight nations July 15-17, but the deadline was moved back to October.

Negotiations with the U.S. broke down in July over differences on agriculture, specifically meat. The development was unexpected, since the main point of contention throughout the talks had been access of financial services companies to the Russian market and the lack of intellectual property rights protection in Russia.

Another obstacle to Russia's WTO membership is the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which is still in force for Russia but was under debate during the term of the Republican-majority Congress.

Russia has long complained that the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which restricts trade with the former Soviet Union, remains in force for Russia despite having been lifted for many of its former Soviet allies.

The Jackson-Vanik Amendment links U.S. trade benefits, known as Normal Trade Relations (NTR), to the emigration and human rights policies of Communist or formerly Communist countries.

Experts say it is highly unlikely that the U.S. White House will pressure Congress into scrapping Jackson-Vanik, seen as discriminatory in Moscow, especially after the Democrats won a congressional majority in this week's elections.

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