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Moscow hopes U.S. Congress will repeal Jackson-Vanick amendment

MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) - Moscow hopes that U.S. Congress will repeal the Jackson-Vanick amendment in the near future.

"Now that [congressional] elections have been held, we hope the U.S. Congress will do away with this harmful remnant of the past," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.

This amendment "is not only contrary to today's new quality of Russian-U.S. relations, but also presents a direct obstacle to business ties between the two countries," he said.

"At the recent summit in St. Petersburg, the U.S. president reconfirmed that he and his administration are doing everything possible to get this amendment repealed," Yakovenko said.

Concerning the procedures for repealing this "discriminatory amendment," Yakovenko said that "[U.S.] Congress should pass a law on the matter." "On May 22 this year, U.S. legislators approved a special resolution in which they expressed support for a timely and proper solution to this issue," Yakovenko said.

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