Akhir 05 , 1432 H. / March 10, 2011 -- Washington strongly supports Russia's bid to repeal Cold War-era trade controls so it can join the World Trade Organization, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said, according to UPI. Having Russia in the organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade is "the most important item on our agenda," Biden said to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Wednesday ahead of his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Thursday. In separate remarks at the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management he said international investors were watching closely to see whether Russia made progress on corruption and rule of law. "Investors are looking for assurances that the legal system treats them fairly and acts on their concerns swiftly," Biden told Russian and American business executives. The school is near a planned high-technology business area that Russian officials envision will be Russia's equivalent of Silicon Valley. Russia is looking for the United States to help promote its economic modernization, a central goal of Medvedev's presidency. "Our economic ties are significantly lagging behind our political ones," Medvedev told Biden. "In that sense, Russia's absence from the WTO is interfering, and I hope that this year this process will be completed with the active support of the U.S." Russia has been in talks on membership in the 153-member WTO for 17 years. Russia is the biggest economy outside the organization, followed by Iran. A recent Russia-European Union summit assessed its chances to join the organization this year as very high, Russian state-owned RIA Novosti reported. After meeting with Putin, Bien will participate in a round-table discussion with Russian opposition leaders. At 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EST), he will deliver what the White House calls "a major speech on U.S.-Russia relations" at Moscow State University. The speech will highlight "recent areas of accomplishment on shared interests, as well as ways the U.S. and Russia can continue to work together to further the prosperity of our two countries," the White House said. The meetings with Russian leaders are part of the Obama administration's plan to "reset" ties with Russia after years of tension under George W. Bush's presidency. Biden announced the reset policy at the February 2009 Munich Conference on Security Policy. The following month U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov symbolically pressed a "reset" button. A year later, Washington and Moscow reached an agreement to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Obama and Medvedev signed the new nuclear-arms reduction treaty -- called New START, replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty -- in Prague, Czech Republic, April 8. President Barack Obama is expected to visit Moscow this year.
