Signs that Russia is honouring a cease-fire agreement could help get its long-time bid to join the World Trade Organisation back on track, a business group promoting US-Russian business ties says. Despite tensions following the recent 5-day war in Georgia, the WTO working group on Russia's 15-year-old bid to join the world trade body held informal talks in Geneva on September 18.
"The understanding is with Russia's compliance in meeting the terms of the cease-fire and the withdrawal, the talks will continue in November. We view that as a very positive development," Randi Levinas, executive vice president of US-Russia Business Council, told Reuters ahead of the group's annual meeting in Washington on Monday and Tuesday.
EU cease-fire monitors in Georgia reported on Sunday the dismantling of a Russian checkpoint near breakaway South Ossetia, which they called the "first open sign" of a promised Russian trop pullback by October 10. That follows US warnings that Russia would face a strong reaction if it fails to honour the cease-fire.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also has said Russia's actions in Georgia jeopardise its long-time bids to join the WTO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a rich nation's club.
Russian officials, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, have responded by saying Moscow wanted to renegotiate some of the commitments it has already made to join the WTO. The US-Russia Business Council believes that would be a mistake, Levinas said, arguing it is in Russia's economic and political interest to be a part of the rules-based international trade system.
Russia still has a lot of work to do to join the WTO, but it is not an insurmountable list, she said. Since the war in Georgia, investor confidence in the Russian market has been shaken. Investors have pulled billions of dollars out of Russia because of worries about the global credit crisis and falling oil prices as well as deteriorating relations with the West.
William Burns, US under-secretary of state for political affairs, is scheduled to speak on Monday at the group's meeting in a speech that Levinas said was closed to the press. Burns served as US ambassador to Russia for three years before taking his current job in May. Many top US companies with business interests in Russia are sponsoring the two-day meeting.
They include Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, John Deere, Caterpillar, Boeing, Cisco Systems, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Ford and Microsoft. "The business relationship continues on a strong grounding. There's just been a lot of uncertainty cast into the overall environment" because of the war, Levinas said. The US financial crisis also is forcing companies to review their investment plans around the world and "Russia's not immune to that," Levinas said.
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