US Vice President Joe Biden backed Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday during a visit aimed at boosting political and business ties. "We strongly support Russia's accession to the WTO," Biden told a business roundtable. "We are making real progress," he said, adding that the two sides had settled some agricultural trade differences as well.
But Biden warned that Russia still needed to provide more assurances to investors, as well as "improve the investment climate, implement the rule of law and tackle endemic corruption". The meeting with US and Russian business leaders comes before talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, who has made fighting graft one of his top priorities since he took office three years ago.
After two years of improving relations, crowned by the New START nuclear arms pact's entry into force last month, analysts say approaching elections reduce the prospect of more big gains. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who is leading WTO talks for the Russian side, said he hoped Russia - the largest economy outside the WTO - would be able to join the trade club this year.
"We understand that the political success of this depends to a large extent on the US administration," Shuvalov said. Biden's visit will include what US officials have described as "serious discussions" about the unrest in Libya and the Arab world as well as cooperation on missile defence.
As the United States and Nato weigh potential military options against Libya, including a no-fly zone, Russia has warned it opposes military intervention. A permanent UN Security Council member, Russia would be able to veto any proposal taken to the council, and can use that clout to influence Western policy as it has done with Iran.
The business gathering was at Skolkovo, a site outside Moscow where the Kremlin plans a high-tech hub using tax breaks and other incentives to lure investment and nurture innovation. The project is critical to Medvedev's uphill battle to modernise Russia's energy-reliant economy, which critics say is riddled with corruption and red tape.
"We fully support President Medvedev's vision of a nation powered by innovation," Biden said. Russian-US trade totalled $23.5 billion in 2010, just 3.8 percent of Russia's total external trade. Biden presided over the signing of a deal between US planemaker Boeing Co and Russia's Aeroflot.
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