Normal trade relations with Russia essential for American exporters

TOYAKO, July 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian president's aide Sergei
Prikhodko believes that the absence of normal trade relations with Russian could seriously harm the interests of American exporters.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting between Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the G-8
summit, Prikhodko said that Russia hadn't yet been granted the regime of normal trade relations with the United States on a permanent basis.

"This, above all, concerns the Jackson -Vanick amendment due to which the regime of normal trade relations is being applied only on a temporary basis," Prikhodko explained.

He believes that the lifting of the aforesaid amendment and other
discriminatory trade restrictions will make it possible to switch over to
the WTO standards in bilateral relations. "Otherwise, the interests of
U.S. exporters will be harmed," Prikhodko warned.

He noted that Russia was expecting to finish all the procedures linked
to its accession to the WTO by the end of this year. "The U.S.
administration helps us with multilateral talks," Prikhodko stressed. He
said that energy security would be another vital issue that will be high
on the agenda of Medvedev's talks with George W. Bush.

"Given Russia's role in the provision of global energy security and
its aim to strengthen its status of a stable energy supplier to world
markets, the importance of bilateral energy dialogue will grow," Prikhodko
went on to say.

Dmitry Medvedev is expected to hold four bilateral meetings on Monday
on the sidelines of the G-8 summit that will open in Windsor Hotel on the
bank of Lake Toya on Hokkaido Island. The first will be with U.S.
President George W. Bush. Dmitry Medvedev and George W.Bush met each other
shortly after Medvedev was elected as president. The two presidents
quickly established warm and friendly personal relations. It's absolutely
clear that the two will continue their friendly contacts in Toyako.
President Medvedev will have an opportunity to congratulate George W. Bush
on his 62nd birthday, which he marked on July 6.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be the second leader whom
Medvedev is going to meet on Monday.

"We are going to meet her without fail. It will be a good opportunity
to exchange our views on the latest Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiysk
and discuss Russian-German relations in the context of negotiations on a
new framework agreement between Russia and the European Union,"
presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass. The two leaders will
also discuss a schedule of future bilateral contacts, the preparation for
a regular round of Russian-German consultations, some international issues
as well as trade and economic cooperation.

Bilateral relations will dominate Medvedev's meeting with his French
opposite number Nicolas Sarkozy. However, international issues won't be
ignored. "We will certainly discuss international problems, first and
foremost our relations with the European Union, especially in the light of
France's rotating EU presidency in the second half of this year,"
Prikhodko stressed.

Prikhodko hoped that a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, which is also scheduled for Monday, would focus on bilateral
relations. "The situation in the Russian-British relations is far from
normal. Therefore, we expect that the meeting will give a new impetus for
its improvement," Prikhodko went on to say.

Prikhodko said that the Russian side was ready to discuss the
situation around TNK-BP with Gordon Brown. However, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev has already expressed the Russian state's attitude to this
problem. "It is a commercial dispute, and the state shouldn't get involved
in regulating relations between the shareholders and the company's
leadership," Prikhodko quoted Medvedev as saying.

President Medvedev will meet Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on
July 8. Prikhodko recalled that Yasuo Fukuda had visited Russia early last
April to meet the newly elected Russian president.

"The agenda will be dominated by bilateral relations, trade, economic
and investment cooperation and a discussion of joint opportunities to
develop the Far East and Eastern Siberia. A dialogue on a peace treaty
will be continued," Prikhodko went on to say. The two leaders will also
discuss how to improve the legal framework of Russian - Japanese relations.

On Tuesday, a separate meeting will be held with Italian Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

On Wednesday, President Medvedev will meet Chinese President Hu
Jintao. "We will discuss the implementation of agreements which were
reached during the Russian president's visit to China in May; we will talk
about regional cooperation, including interaction within the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the run-up to the next summit scheduled
for August," Prikhodko explained.

The same day, President Medvedev plans separate meetings with
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Prikhodko noted that the time and number of Medvedev's bilateral
meetings could be changed inconsiderably because of busy schedule.