Moscow urging Washington to eliminate obstacles for high-tech cooperation

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov discussed Russian-American economic cooperation with US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans at a meeting in Washington on December 19th. The discussion was held in the context of the expanding energy dialogue between the two countries, RIA Novosti learned at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.

According to the ministry's estimates, cooperation in this sphere is becoming "one of the basic aspects" of the countries' partnership. In October 2002 Houston hosted the first Russian-American energy summit, and its results "testified that Russian and American companies had a significant interest in the dialogue," the ministry pointed out.

Ivanov and Evans noted the considerable potential of bilateral cooperation in high-tech sphere, first of all, information technologies. The Russian party "emphasized the need to eliminate present obstacles in the sphere" the ministry reported.

The two ministers also touched upon such issues as negotiations on Russia's admission to the WTO, the abolition of the notorious discriminating Jackson-Vanik amendment and the expansion of dialogue in the banking sphere.