Medvedev, Biden to discuss ABM, Russia's accession to WTO, Libya

MOSCOW, March 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
receive visiting U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden at his presidential
residence in Gorki, the Moscow Region, on Wednesday. The U.S. high-ranking official arrived on a three-day working visit in Moscow on Tuesday evening.
Dmitry Medvedev will have negotiations with Joseph Biden on Wednesday
evening. On Wednesday morning the U.S. vice-president will meet with U.S. diplomats in Moscow and will have a luncheon with U.S. businesspeople
working in Russia. They will accompany Biden during his visit to the
Skolkovo innovation center, where the latter will have a bilateral
round-table meeting with Russian business captains. Aeroflot and Boeing will sign an agreement in the presence of Biden and First Deputy Prime
Minister Igor Shuvalov.
"High on the agenda of the negotiations between Medvedev and Biden are
Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization," Medvedev's press
secretary Natalia Timakova told Itar-Tass. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Judith MacHale said on Monday that the Obama
administration gives priority to Russia's accession to the WTO and does all to abolish the Jackson-Vanik Amendment this year.
The White House stated that Biden's visit in Moscow will focus on the
expansion of the reset results in Russian-U.S. relations. "Russia and the United States stated that bilateral relations are positive and the
dialogue should be continued," Natalia Timakova reaffirmed. "We have
several important issues, which we hope to fulfill this year," she said.
Biden was the first to introduce the term reset. He outlined the
guidelines of U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policy at the Munich Conference in 2008 and urged to settle U.S.-Russian relations pushing the reset button.
The U.S. anti-missile defence will be also high on the agenda of the
Moscow negotiations. In 2001 Biden, who is an expert in arms control and non-proliferation, opposed George Bush's decision on U.S. walkout from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM).
U.S. officials recently stated the intentions to conclude an
antimissile defence treaty with Russia in 2011.
The U.S. vice-president also intends to discuss the situation in Libya
with the Russian leadership. White House officials said that Libya would be discussed as an item on the international agenda and that Russia is a highly important partner of the U.S. "This issue will be touched upon" at the negotiations, Timakova confirmed. "However, the focus of the talks
will be bilateral," Timakova added.
On Thursday, the U.S. vice-president will have negotiations with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The interlocutors "will focus on trade and economic cooperation with the U.S., because its potential is not realized fully," Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Itar-Tass.
They "will also discuss the current world situation, including Libya,"
Peskov said.
On Thursday evening, Biden is to meet with members of Russian
opposition and the leaders of Russian civil society. The meeting will be held at the Spaso House, which is the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Moscow.
At the end of the visit Biden will deliver a major speech on
Russian-U.S. relations at Moscow State University.
Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Security
Council Michael McFall said the U.S. does not intend to intervene in
forthcoming 2012 presidential elections in Russia and does not view Biden's visit to Moscow as support for any candidate.
U.S. Vice-President's wife Jill, who has Doctorate in Education, is
accompanying Biden in his visit to Russia. Jill Biden is to tour the
Kremlin and the Red Square, visit the Bolshoi Theater, meet students of the Ballet Academy and tour the obstetrics, gynecology and perinatology scientific center named after Academician V. A. Kulakov.
On Friday morning, March 11, the U.S. vice-president is to leave
Moscow for Chisinau.