You are Invited: Jackson-Vanik After Russia’s Accession to the WTO

The Kennan Institute and Wilson Center on the Hill present:

 Jackson-Vanik After Russia’s Accession to the WTO

Tuesday, December 13, 2011   12:00-1:15 p.m.

B-338 Rayburn House Office Building

Russia’s application to join the World Trade Organization is expected to be approved this month.  To take advantage of the new trade opportunities, the United States will need to permanently waive provisions of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. The original intent behind Jackson-Vanik was to force the Soviet Union to permit more liberal immigration. While immigration is now unrestricted, there is still concern about human rights in Russia. A panel of experts will address the trade, human rights, and other U.S. national interests associated with Russia’s entry into the WTO.

RANDI LEVINAS, Executive Vice President, U.S.-Russia Business Council; THOMAS O. MELIA, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State (TBC); RICHARD PERLE, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; LARA IGLITZIN, Executive Director, Henry M. Jackson Foundation

Moderated by: WILLIAM POMERANZ, Deputy Director, Kennan Institute

Please RSVP acceptances only to onthehill@wilsoncenter.org or 202-691-4357. 

Posted by: PAGE Staff

PAGE Meets with a Delegation from the National Defense University

On Monday, January 31 Woodrow Wilson Center and the Program on America and the Global Economy (PAGE) hosted students and faculty from the National Defense University (NDU) for a discussion on the history of the Russian energy economy and its prospects for the coming years.  Attending from NDU were members of the army, navy, air force, reserve branches, and foreign countries including Macedonia, Japan, Mongolia, and Norway.  PAGE director Kent Hughes led a discussion focused on Russia and its role in the world energy market.  Hughes highlighted past fluctuations in Russia’s energy production, and addressed some of the challenges facing the country moving forward.

Once the “breadbasket of Europe,” the former Soviet Union boasted a large agricultural sector, but only a small energy industry leading up to World War II.  While the region’s energy riches helped drive the industrialization of the mid 20th century, Hughes noted that their economy remained “quite inefficient,” and bequeathed the lack of a “vibrant manufacturing industry” to  post-Soviet Russia.  The energy industry enabled growth, but also exposed the Russian economy to shifts in global energy prices.  The Soviet Union’s vulnerability to global prices was made clear when Saudi Arabian oil producers caused a price drop in the late 1980s.  The sharp drop in prices contributed to an economic malaise and helped push Gorbachev’s reforms that, in turn, helped lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Future of U.S. – E.U. Energy Cooperation

The following is an event summary from a program held by the European Studies Program and the  Program on America and the Global Economy at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Chief of staff at the Office of the Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy at the U.S. Department of State, Vincent J. O’brien, stated that “stakes for an energy secure future have never been higher than they are today.” Cooperation is needed on securing new resources of natural gas, diversifying energy sources and creating a more integrated European energy market. Given that the U.S.–EU trade relationship is the largest in the world and that the economies are increasingly becoming interdependent, Europe’s energy security is naturally in the best interest of the U.S. While the dynamics behind Europe’s energy concerns are complex, pipeline politics seem to dominate discussions.

To help combine efforts and formalize ongoing discussions between the U.S. and the EU on these issues, the creation of a U.S.–EU Energy Council was realized in November of 2009. The Council is divided into three main working groups addressing: energy security and new markets to help secure new natural gas resources; standards and policies to harmonize the ongoing work on electric cars, smart grids and other technologies; and technical research and development to cooperate on research for carbon capture and storage, rare earths and renewable technologies.