Ron Kirk: “If we don't repeal Jackson-Vanik, to the degree that Russia is opening up liberalizing its services market, investment…”

Our ambition, at least among the nine countries that initially decided to go down this road together, was let us not wait on what is going to happen in Doha or APEC; let us try and develop a new trade model for the twenty-first century…

Failing to lift Jackson-Vanik and extend PNTR will not penalize Russia, nor will it provide a lever with which to change the government's behavior.

Congressman, it will certainly open up more markets, particularly in services Russia is committed to.

I respectfully ask this committee to move forward quickly with legislation to terminate Jackson-Vanik and empower the President to extend PNTR to Russia.