WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade praised the U.S. Senate for its
vote approving legislation to remove Russia from the Jackson-Vanik amendment and
enact Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with Russia by a margin of 92-4.
"Today's vote in the U.S. Senate marks an important victory for
U.S. manufacturers, service providers, farmers and ranchers, said
Randi Levinas, Executive Director of
the Coalition. "Our businesses will finally have the same
rights and opportunities in the Russian market as their foreign
counterparts. We look forward to President Obama's signing of
this historic legislation to ensure the competitiveness of U.S.
exports to Russia."
Russia joined the World Trade
Organization (WTO) back in August after 18 years of negotiations
with the United States and other
WTO members to make commitments to open its market and assume the
obligations of the global rules-based trading system.
"This has been a long day in coming," said Levinas, "and there
are many who have contributed to ensuring our success. The
strong bipartisan votes we've seen today in the Senate and on
November 16 in the House are a
testament to the hard work the business community has done in
conjunction with leaders on Capitol Hill, in the Obama
Administration and around the country. We are delighted that
U.S. business will have full access to Russia's WTO commitments."
Specifically, Russia PNTR enables U.S. business to take
advantage of Russia's commitments
in services, animal and plant health regulations and intellectual
property protection, as well as measures that facilitate greater
regulatory transparency and accountability in the Russian
market.
The Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade is a broad-based group of
manufacturers, service providers and farmers that has organized the
business community's outreach to Capitol Hill on Russia PNTR.
It is led by the U.S.-Russia Business Council and its co-chairs
include Caterpillar, Chevron, General Electric, International
Paper, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble.
Russia has a GDP of
$1.9 trillion, and it imported
approximately $400 billion last year
in goods and services. Russia's
142 million consumers appreciate high quality, and the country is
seeking to improve its infrastructure and modernize its industrial
base.
The Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade is a broad-based group of
U.S. corporations, trade associations and small businesses
actively seeking to increase U.S. exports and jobs with increased
trade with Russia. The Coalition
is committed to ensuring the enactment of Permanent Normal Trade
Relations with Russia in order to
preserve the competitiveness of U.S. firms, farmers and workers in
the Russian market. The Coalition is housed at the U.S.-Russia
Business Council (www.usrbc.org) which serves as the
Secretariat for the Coalition. For more information, please
visit the Coalition's website at
www.usrussiatrade.org.
SOURCE U.S.-Russia Business Council