FOCUS Information Agency - Russia has shown the United States the entire package of documents regarding the Customs Union being established with Belarus and Kazakhstan, a first deputy Russian prime minister said, RIA Novosti reported.Igor Shuvalov (photo) said Russia also informed the U.S. administration that the union will be built on the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"We confirmed and are ready to further defend the position that the Customs Union is based on the norms and principles of the World Trade Organization," he said.
"The establishment of the Customs Union does not change the trade policy of the Russian Federation," Shuvalov told Russian journalists in Washington.
In January 2009, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed to create a single economic space by January 1, 2012.
In June 2009, the countries notified the WTO of their intention to join the organization as a single customs union.
The three ex-Soviet republics suspended their bilateral negotiations on WTO entry to hold consultations on a common position on the customs union.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Russian government delegation was in the U.S. capital on a visit to hold a number of meetings with U.S. administration representatives. The meetings discussed bilateral trade and economic cooperation, investment and Russia's entry into the WTO.
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