CONSULTATION REQUESTED ON 2005 MEAT

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002740 SENSITIVE SIPDIS USDA FAS FOR OCRA/CURTIS, FLEMINGS, KUYPERS; - OSTA/HAMILTON, BEAN PASS FSIS/HARRIES, DUTROW PASS APHIS MITCHELL STATE FOR EUR/RUS, STATE PASS USTR FOR PORTER, HAFNER, KLEIN BRUSSELS PASS APHIS/FERNANDEZ VIENNA PASS APHIS/TANAKA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ETRD ECON WTO RS SUBJECT: CONSULTATION REQUESTED ON 2005 MEAT AGREEMENT REF: A. HANSEN/USTR PORTER, FAS/FLEMINGS EMAIL ¶B. MOSCOW 2620 ¶C. MOSCOW 2579 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a letter from Economic Development Minister Nabiullina to U.S. Trade Representative Schwab that the embassy received on September 11, the GOR proposes expert level consultations on the Meat Agreement signed between Russia and the United States in 2005 as part of Russia's bid to join the WTO. The Meat Agreement confirmed a special mechanism by which the United States may export a set quantity of pork, beef and poultry to Russia at a mutually agreed tariff level through the end of 2009. Russian officials have previously stated they want to substantially lower the quota for U.S. poultry in 2009 (Refs B, C),and raise over-quota duties on pork and poultry. The original scanned copy and courtesy translation were sent to USDA, USTR and the State Department's Russia Desk on September 11 (REF A). An informal embassy translation of the letter follows. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Moscow September 11, 2008 No. 12693-EN/D11 Ambassador S.C. Schwab U.S. Trade Representative Washington, D.C. First, I would like to express my gratitude for the attention you pay regarding Russia?s WTO accession and to the development of our bilateral economic and trade relations in general. We intend to continue active collaboration in the multilateral negotiations within the framework of the working group for WTO accession, and we are ready to make efforts to solve outstanding problems through mutual agreement before the end of this year. In that regard, I would like to voice one particular issue related to the bilateral Russian-American Agreement on trade in certain types of poultry, beef and pork, signed in Washington on June 15, 2005. Bearing in mind that this part of trade is of high importance for both of our countries, we are ready to discuss any issues of concern with our partners. We would like to propose that our specialists, without any delay, conduct consultations on the trade of meat products in the nearest future. Sincerely, Minister E. Nabiullina END TEXT. BEYRLE