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U.S. to decide by June 14 whether Russia is market economy Move could boost oil imports from Russia, world’s second-largest oil producer Angela Charlton Associated Press Writer
The U.S. Commerce Department will decide within three weeks whether to declare Russia a market economy, according to a declaration May 24 that boosted Russian hopes of winning a status that would dramatically improve its access to world markets.
At a presidential summit in Moscow May 24, U.S. officials also expressed interest in significantly increasing imports of Russian oil, a boon for the world’s second-largest oil producer, Russian Economics and Trade Minister German Gref said.
U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a declaration saying that the Commerce Department would decide by June 14 on whether to call Russia a market economy, Gref said, adding “I hope the decision will be in our favor.”
“Major opportunities will open up for exporting Russian goods to the United States,” he said. Old economy shed more than a decade ago Russian officials have long complained about the U.S. refusal to recognize their nation as a market economy despite having shed their communist-era command economy more than a decade ago, especially since other ex-Soviet republics have been granted the honor.
The step is crucial before Russia can join the World Trade Organization. Russia is the largest economy still outside the WTO, which it has been trying to join for seven years.
The centerpiece of the Bush-Putin summit was a nuclear arms control deal shrinking each country’s arsenal by two-thirds.
Both presidents spoke for the end of trade restrictions against Russia under the Jackson-Vanik amendment, a 1974 law that ties Moscow’s trade privileges to its policies on Jewish emigration and other human rights. But Bush has faced resistance at home, and the U.S. Senate refused again May 22 to lift the restrictions. Russian rabbi urges lifting of restrictions Russia’s chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, urged a lifting of the restrictions May 24, saying Jews enjoy “full support” from today’s Russian authorities. Lazar was to meet with Bush and other Russian religious leaders later May 24.
Meanwhile, Bush and Putin signed an energy agreement for joint work in extracting, transporting and selling fuel. They agreed to boost investment in Russia’s growing but dilapidated oil and gas sector. In a joint statement, they pointed out the need “to expand access to world markets for Russian fuel.”
The United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, has been increasingly looking to Russia as a key alternative source of oil. The United States is keen to reduce its dependence on OPEC, given the unrest in the Middle East and uncertainties over Iraq.
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