U.S. and Russian CEOs Meet with President Medvedev to Support Russia's WTO Accession

The U.S.-Russia Business Council Board Members, led by USRBC Chairman Klaus Kleinfeld of Alcoa, met today with President Medvedev in St. Petersburg at The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to present him with a letter voicing their full support for the Russian Federation's accession to the World Trade Organization upon the conclusion of a commercially viable agreement and the approval of that agreement by the Russian government.

The letter was signed by 35 chief executive officers of leading Russian companies and U.S. corporations with a significant presence in the Russian market: Alcoa, Alfa Bank, Alfa Group, Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Cisco, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, Deere, Dow Chemical, Ernst & Young, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Intel, International Paper, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Medtronic, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble, Renova Group, RUSNANO, Sberbank, Severstal, TMK, Troika Dialog, United Technologies Corporation, Visa, Volga-Dnepr Group, VTB Bank.

The CEOs assured President Medvedev of their firm belief that WTO membership will significantly improve Russia's position as a key, rapidly growing, member of the global economy. "Membership in the WTO will fully integrate Russia into the modern global trading system and provide confidence to foreign and domestic investors that Russia will adhere to the rules and norms of the world's largest trade organization. It will also ensure Russia's access to WTO dispute resolution procedures previously unavailable to it," said Ed Verona, President and CEO of the U.S.-Russia Business Council.