September 25, 2008

Russia will review trade agreements with up to five countries, including the US, as soon as October, according to chief foreign trade negotiator Maxim Medvedkov.

The reviews will mostly concern import duties, Medvedkov said on Monday (September 22, 2008), adding that the agreements in question were not part of Russia's WTO entry obligations.

Medvedkov said some countries had already received Russia's proposals and he expects the review to complete within one to two months. One of the accords to be reviewed is the 2005 US-Russia bilateral meat agreement, which was originally set to run for five years.

Russia has banned poultry imports from 19 US producers last month on health and safety grounds, and agriculture minister Alexei Gordeyev said Russia may reduce poultry import quotas by up to 300,000 tonnes next year. 

According to Medvedkoc, negotiators had hoped that a 30 percent drop in US poultry imports after the meat agreement went into effective in 2005 would have persuaded the US Congress to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment approved in 1974. The amendment tied normal trade relations with the Soviet Union to the rights of Jews and other religious minorities to emigrate freely. The US Congress had always insisted to keep it in place, and the stance is unlikely to soften due to Russia's recent conflict with Georgia.

Medvedkov said Russian poultry producers had enjoyed 15 percent growth rates since the meat agreement went into force, but the producers had difficulty coping with rising feed costs this year.

"The lifting of Jackson-Vanik did not happen, our poultry producers are having problems and, therefore, we want to negotiate with our US partners a more predictable environment for this important industry," Medvedkov said.

Russia imported nearly US$1 billion worth of poultry and other meat products from the US in 2007.