This article has been corrected (see below).
The Jackson-Vanik amendment is unlikely to be repealed this year, but the United States will try to do it in 2012, U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle said, Interfax reported.
"We expect that it can hardly be done this year, but President Obama has made it clear that it will be a priority for us in 2012," Beyrle said Monday.
It is time for the Jackson-Vanik amendment to be repealed now that an agreement has been reached on Russia's accession to the WTO, Beyrle said.
U.S.-Russian trade grew abruptly in 2011, Beyrle said, speaking at the Asia Pacific forum in Moscow.
Trade grew 76 percent in the first three quarters of 2011 as compared with the same period in 2009, he said.
(MT)
Correction: An earlier version of this brief misquoted U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle's statement about the growth of bilateral trade between Russia and the United States. Beyrle said bilateral trade grew 76 percent in the first three quarters of this year, as compared to the same period in 2009.
