Russia WTO deal this year, "inshallah": U.S. aide

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia could soon finish its 15-year-old bid to join the World Trade Organization and, "at the appropriate time," the White House will ask Congress to approve permanent normal trade relations, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.

"Right now, the priority is very much on WTO accession ... and, inshallah, that can and should happen in the near term," said Reuben Jeffery, under secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs.

Jeffery's use of the Arabic phrase for "God willing" echoed comments Andrey Denisov, Russia's first deputy minister of foreign affairs, made moments earlier in the describing the U.S.-Russia economic agenda.

"We're facing intensive work before the end of this year -- signing agreements on peaceful nuclear energy cooperation (and) finishing Russia's accession to the WTO -- inshallah," Denisov said to laughter from his audience, reflecting the many other times Russian officials have predicted an end to the talks.

The optimistic remarks to the U.S.-Russia Business Council came just days after the U.S. trade representative's office again put Russia on its annual list of countries with the worst record on counterfeiting and piracy of American goods.

The United States reached a bilateral agreement with Russia on the terms of its WTO accession in November 2006.

But under that pact, Moscow still needs to pass legislation and take other steps to strengthen its intellectual property rights protection regime, the U.S. trade office said.

Russia is by some estimates the world's seventh largest economy, making it by far the largest country outside of the world trade body.

To complete the accession process, Russia still must reach bilateral deals with Georgia and Saudi Arabia, as well as an overarching deal with the entire WTO membership to bring its trade regime into compliance with international norms.

The chairman of the WTO accession talks in Geneva said earlier this week the multilateral negotiations had taken a "great step forward."

But Georgia, angry about Moscow's ties with its breakaway regions, has threatened to block Russia's entry in the WTO.

Once Russia becomes a member, the United States would be obligated under WTO rules to lift a Cold War-era trade provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

That measure tied normal trade relations with the Soviet Union and other centrally planned economies to the rights of Jews and other religious minorities to emigrate freely.

Russia has been in compliance since 1994, but U.S. lawmakers have insisted that Moscow finish negotiations on joining the WTO before voting to lift the measure and establish permanent normal trade relations.

U.S. refusal to lift the Cold War measure would not block Russia from joining the WTO. But it would allow Moscow to legally deny U.S. companies from sharing in the market-opening concessions it has made to join the world trade body.

Jeffery said the White House would ask Congress to lift Jackson-Vanik "at the appropriate time" in Russia's accession process, without being more specific.

Denisov called Jackson-Vanik a mostly "symbolic" issue with potentially significant economic consequences. He said he hoped it would be lifted in 2008 or in 2009, at the latest.

(Editing by David Wiessler)