Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen gave the following testimony before the Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs

Under Secretary Cohen. Chairman Brady, Ranking Member McDermott, Members of the Committee, I very much appreciate the invitation to speak before the Committee today. My focus will be on our efforts to develop a new International Services Agreement, but I want to take a moment to frame these efforts with a brief assessment of the state-of-play in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Quite frankly, the WTO is an institution at a crossroads. After more than a decade of unsuccessful negotiations in the Doha Round, the collective membership finally acknowledged last December that the Doha Round is at impasse. This situation has resulted in a fair amount of hand-wringing and doomsday predictions in Geneva. But our view is that the WTO can't fix its problems without first acknowledging them.

What's more, our successful effort to 'turn the page' on Doha is creating important new opportunities. It has provided a useful reminder of non-Doha aspects of the institution. It has also challenged us to learn from our collective mistakes in the Doha negotiation and craft more constructive and productive pathways forward.

Already, only eight months after the 8th Ministerial Conference where members emphasized the need for new approaches, there's a marked new energy in Geneva. Technical negotiations on a multilateral trade facilitation agreement are advancing. Preparations are underway to expand the product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement, or ITA, and are picking up steam. We also are working to address development concerns. Just before the summer break, the U.S. contributed to work in completing a new set of guidelines streamlining the WTO accession process for least developed countries. Beyond this work, Members are continuing quiet discussions on how to deal with the more intractable issues.

The United States is committed to the WTO and wants to make it work more effectively in the interests of all Members. This includes using the WTO General Council and Committee system to raise issues that we consider to be important, such as trade protectionist measures. We want to encourage healthy debate and, where possible, explore the potential for the negotiation of new trade opportunities. At the end of the day, all of these efforts are part of the President's goal of doubling U.S. exports and creating new jobs for America's farmers, ranchers, workers, companies, and entrepreneurs.

As we look to new pathways in Geneva, our new work this year on services is particularly promising. Over the past several months we have been working with a group of like-minded WTO members to explore ways forward. This group, with the admittedly bad name of the 'Really Good Friends of Services' or RGF, first got together in the early years of the Doha Round as a means for those Members with a strong interest in services trade to coordinate efforts. Since then, the RGF membership has increased and the group has been instrumental in providing leadership on Doha Development Agenda (DDA) Services as well as WTO services generally.

A hallmark to the RGF is its diversity. The group includes a mix of developed and developing countries that substantially reflects a cross-section of the interests of the WTO as a whole. Above all, the RGF discussion has been motivated by the conviction that opening up services markets is a critical factor in supporting economic development, not just for each Member, but globally. Services provide both the infrastructure and the lubricant that makes the global economic system work. Many services are key infrastructure industries: Information and communications, financial services, distribution and logistics, energy and environmental services—networks that are essential for all economic activity. Similarly, professional services like legal and accounting services play an important role in enabling markets to function. With the continued stalemate of the WTO negotiations, the RGF was a natural place to turn to develop new pathways to global services trade.

The genesis of the ISA—International Services Agreement—lies in our hard-nosed assessment that we simply will not be able to make real progress on services trade liberalization any time soon under existing WTO frameworks. The positions of the major players are too firmly entrenched, and too closely tied to a web of other issues.

Meanwhile, we hear the frustration from stakeholders who are understandably fed up with the lack of progress. The world has changed and our rules need to catch up. To take but one example, Internet usage is 500-times greater now than when the Doha Round was launched in 2001, bringing with it a multitude of new issues related to cross-border trade, such as policies that affect data flows and storage. Our stakeholders want us to get to work in addressing these and a host of other issues.

Faced with a choice between doing nothing or trying something different, we have begun to explore the feasibility of using a new multiparty services trade agreement to lay the pathway to further global services liberalization. The most logical place for us to start was to look at the more than 100 services agreements that have been notified to the WTO in the 18 years since the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) entered into effect, an exercise that we have conducted over the past eight months. Indeed, many of these agreements achieve a much higher standard for market access and incorporate new or improved rules to address real-world problems.

We believe it is time for forward-thinking WTO members to consolidate these improvements and lay the foundation for extending them to the multilateral system. The first step in achieving our vision is to bring the achievements of these varied agreements under a single umbrella, the ISA. Like existing U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs), the agreement would encompass all service sectors and modes of supply and impose a high standard for liberalization. The agreement also would provide a new platform where we could work to build a stronger international consensus on new and improved rules to address new issues.

The potential benefits are compelling. By moving to a multiparty agreement that reaches across geographic regions, we would create a stepping stone from the web of bilateral and regional deals back toward the multilateral trading system. By establishing high standards for market access, we can influence the norms of international practice. By developing new provisions, we can provide leadership to the global trading system.

In addition to these systemic benefits, the ISA also offers the potential to strengthen our economic relationships with the other participants. In just six months, the RGF group has grown from 16 members to 20 with the addition of Peru, Costa Rica, Israel, Turkey, and just this week Panama. The United States currently has FTAs with only 10 of the 20 members. The ISA therefore offers a venue to work on deeper services integration with partners as diverse as Japan, Taiwan, Israel, Pakistan, and Turkey.

Progress to date has been encouraging. We have reached agreement on a core set of objectives, and agreed to intensify our efforts this fall. Our next step is for the group to develop more specific negotiating parameters so that each participant can conduct the domestic consultations necessary in order to decide how to proceed.

While we are pleased by early signs of progress, it is important to keep in mind that with a group of 20 participants with varied interests, there are likely to be differences of opinion. As we intensify our discussions, these differences may become more pronounced and some members may even choose to reduce their engagement. This would be a natural and healthy part of any negotiating process that should be embraced rather than feared.

As for timing, we do not have a hard deadline, but would like to see things move forward as quickly as possible. We are planning to have monthly meetings from September through December. Throughout this process, the Administration will continue to consult closely with Congress and stakeholders to develop and refine U.S. objectives. We appreciate this hearing as a part of that process, and look forward to the conversation today.

Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard gave these remarks in Washington, DC

Under Secretary Brainard. Our country's economic future lies primarily in our own hands. But the choices China makes as it navigates its next phase of development will matter greatly for the kind of international playing field our companies, workers, farmers, and ranchers will face.

That is why the President has worked hard from day one to make our economic relationship with China more balanced so that it yields greater benefits for American workers and exporters and China no longer plays by a different set of rules.

At every juncture, the President and his economic team have pressed China to abide by international norms, especially given its outsized role in the international trading system. We have highlighted the costs of not adopting these norms, and we have moved forward with forging higher standards with like-minded countries.

The President has demanded changes where our core economic interests are at stake, and we have used all available mechanisms effectively and aggressively to defend them—including through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the newly-created trade enforcement center that investigates unfair trading practices.

We have sought to work with the grain of the reform agenda many in China are advocating. We have highlighted the importance of rebalancing growth and leveling the playing field so that China avoids the middle-income trap and navigates its demographic transition.

And we have done so without undue drama by cultivating greater clarity and predictability in our bilateral engagement. We have worked hard to find common ground, recognizing that the first and second largest economies share an overwhelming interest in building a more robust global economy.

Today, our approach is yielding measurable gains. Exports to China have grown by over 50 percent since 2009—in line with the President's strategy of doubling exports in five years. For the first time in decades, consulting companies are highlighting the attraction for global companies of bringing jobs to the United States, or “insourcing” their operations—citing heightened competitiveness relative to other markets. And employment in U.S. manufacturing has increased month after month, adding more than 500,000 new jobs since 2010.

Let me briefly elaborate on these four aspects of our approach.

First, China's economy is now too large for it to pick and choose which rules it will follow without risking the integrity and legitimacy of the international system on which China's growth depends.

China's persistent exchange rate undervaluation in the years following its admission to the WTO is a vivid example of the impact China's policy choices have on the international system. From the time China joined the WTO to 2006, its trade-weighted exchange rate depreciated by 15 percent, adjusting for inflation. Of course, with China's productivity growth outpacing that of its trading partners, we should have seen strong appreciation throughout the period. This was not just our assessment; it was the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) as well. China's current account surplus shot up from roughly 1 percent of GDP to over 10 percent by 2007.

To compensate for the RMB's growing undervaluation, China's trading partners either resisted appreciation of their own exchange rates, thereby amplifying the distortion, or bore an undue burden of adjustment. The strains placed on the global economy sorely tested the legitimacy of the WTO and the IMF.

From day one, we have stressed that this approach is bad for China and unacceptable to the United States.

With demand in many advanced economies expected to remain weak for some time, and with a steep demographic cliff fast approaching, China faces tough choices to sustain growth and avoid the middle-income trap. The policy choices China makes will be important to America's economic interests—to our exports, our workers, our businesses, and our farmers.

Only by moving from an economy dependent on external demand and exports to one driven by domestic consumer demand; an economy dependent on over-investment in resource-intensive industries to reliance on higher value activities; and an economy dependent on adoption and adaptation of foreign technology to one that nurtures innovation, can China sustain its growth.

As it makes this transition, China's domestic goals will be well served by the same principles that we pursue in our trade and investment agenda. China will be able to transition to higher value activities and develop robust innovation capacity only if it protects and enforces intellectual property rights, opens its government procurement market, eliminates preferential treatment of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and compels its exporters to compete on the strength of their product offerings. It will not work with below-market input prices, an undervalued exchange rate, and pervasive intellectual property violations.

Of course, as China makes this transition, it will have a growing interest in improving access to investment opportunities in America's dynamic markets and to our highly innovative products and services. We are willing to make progress on these issues, but our ability to do so will depend on how much progress we see from China.

And we are seeing some progress. Alongside China's growth in wages—a welcome boost to household incomes—exchange rate appreciation is starting to make a difference for our exporters and our workers. China's current account surplus has fallen by over 6 percentage points of GDP, reflecting an 11 percent appreciation of the currency against the dollar in inflation-adjusted terms.

China has taken a number of steps in recent months to reform and open its financial markets, which are critical to leveling the playing field and making the transition to sustainable growth. China has widened its exchange rate bands and reduced intervention in the foreign exchange market. China's capital controls are being cautiously dismantled. Financial authorities are allowing greater market determination of interest rates. Through the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), we have secured improved access for foreign financial services firms in securities and casualty insurance, as well as a greater ability for them to expand their offerings of financial products.

But this is not enough. We will continue to press China to make more progress and provide greater transparency to meet its G-20 commitment to enhance exchange rate flexibility, avoid persistent exchange rate misalignment, and refrain from competitive devaluation.

We will continue to press China to address the rampant theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets, to meet international standards. Following intense engagement at the highest levels, China reversed a set of policies that would have discriminated against foreign intellectual property. In large part because of efforts by the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), China established a high-level mechanism under the leadership of China's State Council to oversee enforcement efforts, including efforts to discourage government use of pirated software. But far greater resolve will be needed if China is to re-join the ranks of the most innovative economies—including working together to stem the growing challenge of cyber-enabled intellectual property violations.

It is also important to address the privileges enjoyed by China's SOEs, which create an unfair advantage that hurts China's private enterprises no less than for U.S. competitors. That is why it was significant when Chinese authorities committed in this year's S&ED to ensure that credit, taxation, and regulatory policies would apply on a non-discriminatory basis across enterprises of all types and to increase the portion of profits China's SOEs must pay out in dividends comparable to other publicly-listed companies. During the years when China's external imbalances ballooned, the high profits retained by China's SOEs were a major contributor to those imbalances. Going forward, unlocking SOE savings will help level the playing field and provide resources to boost social spending.

Second, with China now big enough to have a “systemic” impact across a range of dimensions, China can no longer insist on one set of standards for the big players and another set of standards for itself. In turn, we recognize that China must be at the table as global standards are set.

So, for instance, it was critical for China to be at the table as the Financial Stability Board and the G-20 negotiated global standards for bank capital, orderly liquidation of financial institutions, and over-the-counter derivatives. Along with the other emerging market members, China has taken on the same set of responsibilities as advanced economies, which is essential as its financial markets grow.

While export finance in the United States and other key export nations have long been bound to a set of understandable international disciplines, China's exporters have derived benefit from a confusing and opaque export financing system. Early this year, President Obama made clear we were prepared to match unfair financing to ensure a level playing field for our exporters. And since then, China has agreed to join negotiations on international rules where they will be included for the first time—a critical step as we ensure that our world class exporters are able to compete once again on the strength of quality and price, with trade finance to support, not supplant, market competition.

China's vast procurement market has also been outside the international system for too long, despite its repeated promises to join the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). But we are no longer idly sitting by. The United States has been clear that access to much of our government procurement would depend on commensurate access under the terms of an accession agreement by China to the GPA. We are pushing China to incorporate these elements and look forward to seeing a stronger offer before the end of this year. It is critical that China's accession to the GPA provide U.S. businesses with improved access not just to its large central government procurement market, but also to sub-central procurement that accounted for an estimated 93 percent of total government procurement in 2010.

And through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement we are designing the standards that will constitute the new frontiers for 21st century trade agreements in the key export markets of the Asia-Pacific region. With product cycles and competitive advantage being driven in market time, international standards must continue to move forward. It is thus vital that the TPP address the full scope of disciplines relevant to an open and fair trading system. By working with like-minded countries, we are setting high standards, with the open architecture of the TPP a pathway for additional countries to raise their standards to commensurate levels.

Third, President Obama has demonstrated his determination to use the legitimate enforcement tools we have available to ensure our trading partners play by the rules as a core part of our trade strategy.

That is why it was important to demonstrate early on this Administration's determination to enforce the Section 421 China-specific safeguard mechanism after eight years of disuse, during which safeguards were not imposed in a single one of the cases brought successfully by private industry.

That is why the President created a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to coordinate enforcement and focus tirelessly on challenging unfair trade practices around the world.

That is also why USTR has pursued WTO challenges at twice the prevailing rate of prior administrations. Earlier this month, USTR launched a WTO case against China for imposing unfair duties on more than $3 billion on 80 percent of U.S. auto exports. USTR has strategically taken cases forward so that each case, such as that of export restraints of certain raw materials, lays strong foundations that can be used to dismantle restraints in other key export areas, including rare earths, which are key inputs in U.S. advanced manufacturing products like wind turbines and lithium ion batteries. And earlier this week, we successfully challenged China's discriminatory limitations against foreign electronic payment systems in the WTO.

Finally, it is essential that we place these efforts in the broader context of systematic efforts across the Administration to expand and strengthen channels of communication with Chinese decision makers. We have pursued our agenda with China in a way that creates predictability and clarity, pursuing areas of cooperation even as we press to resolve problems.

The challenging external environment has necessitated close collaboration with China to steer a more resilient global recovery. We supported a greater role for China in key international economic groups, recognizing that Chinese authorities have been pragmatic and active in supporting growth in the face of recurring bouts of financial stress from Europe.

The Administration's engagement with China has been intensive and highly prioritized since day one, from the White House and across all economic agencies. We have maintained continuous interaction at all levels with the Chinese government across the full range of economic issues through mechanisms such as the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the Innovation Dialogue, and the Investment Forum, to mention a few. Under the leadership of Secretary Geithner and Secretary Clinton, the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has strengthened relationships and mechanisms that have enabled us to pursue these priorities effectively at the highest levels.

China is critically important to us. Getting this relationship right is essential. We have made significant progress, but we know, just as you do, that what matters is not just what we agree to on paper, but what really happens on the ground. That's why we remain vigilant and focused, using all appropriate tools and leverage to make a difference for our workers and our businesses.

Thank you.

Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank gave the following remarks in Washington, DC

Acting Secretary Blank. Now that Russia is entering the WTO, establishing PNTR with Russia is a common-sense move that would give American companies improved access to Russia's growing economy. While the United States exported more than $8 billion of goods to Russia in 2011, there is tremendous potential for growth in our trade relationship. The Senate Finance Committee bill marked up today will help American manufacturers and farmers compete on a level playing field, benefit from improved intellectual property enforcement, and provide new opportunities for U.S. exports, thereby creating thousands of jobs and strengthening our economy. We look forward to continued work with Congress on the specifics of the legislation and passage of this critical bill.

Blank commended the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan approval of legislation which would authorize the President to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia. The bill would terminate application of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to Russia and authorize the President to extend permanent normal trade relations to Russia. U.S. companies would then be able to take full advantage of Russia's growing market and approaching membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Representative Ron Kirk and Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky released the following statement at the Ukraine Trade and Investment Council in Washington, DC

At today's Trade and Investment Council meeting, we reviewed a wide range of issues, including intellectual property rights, the investment climate, bilateral trade irritants, taxation, agriculture, customs, aviation, and space.

We discussed the importance to each country of greater progress on the 2010

IPR Action Plan for protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). The United States supported Ukraine's commitment to redouble efforts, especially those identified in the Action Plan, to implement protections that benefit both Ukrainian and American inventors and creators. The United States also hailed Ukraine's planned increase in intellectual property inspectors, as called for in the 2010 IPR Action Plan, as well as its adoption of a new Customs Code intended to improve customs valuation procedures.

We also took a crucial step towards enhancing our trade and investment relationship by establishing a Trade Experts Group to facilitate discussion of trade, investment, and commercial issues at a working level. Through regular meetings, the Trade Experts Group will make it easier to achieve more rapid resolution of trade, investment, and commercial issues between the Parties.

We discussed the situation surrounding Ukraine's refunds of VAT to American companies. Taking note of Ukraine's increase in payments of VAT arrears to U.S. companies since 2011, the United States welcomed the Ukrainian government's commitment to pay outstanding, and future, VAT refunds in a more timely and easier manner, according to the recent legislation. We also discussed Ukraine's new automatic VAT refund system and took positive note of Ukraine's commitment to make it more transparent and applicable to more companies.

In light of the potential for economic growth in both countries, we agreed to continue cooperation to increase bilateral trade and to remove trade barriers between them. Our teams also discussed regulatory, scientific and technical cooperation in agriculture and ways to promote the expansion of trade relations in agriculture and food industry.

Additionally, we discussed civil aviation, including Ukraine's ratification of the Cape Town Convention, which will increase Ukraine's ability to finance the purchase of aircraft and related equipment. We noted the FAA's Technical Review, which will help in determining the Ukraine's progress in making the necessary technical changes to achieve compliance with international standards. The Technical Review is another step toward the Ukrainian goal of having its airlines operate flights more frequently to the United States and enter into code sharing arrangements with American air carriers. Once all of the necessary actions have been completed, additional discussions would occur regarding any future assessment under the International Aviation Safety Assessment program. During the meeting, we also emphasized the prospects for bilateral cooperation in research and implementation of commercial projects in space.

Recognizing the Government of Ukraine's desire to encourage foreign investment and its efforts to improve its standing in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index, we examined some of the systemic issues that have affected the business climate in Ukraine.

Both countries today agreed to hold the Fifth Session of the Council in Kyiv at a date to be determined.

Secretary Hillary Clinton gave the following remarks in Pretoria, South Africa

Secretary Clinton. Thank you very much, Deputy Director General, and thanks to the two ministers who together, I think, have laid out a very ambitious and promising framework for this growing relationship on the business, trade, and investment side to continue to do so. I want to thank the Department of International Relations and Cooperation and my friend and colleague, Minister Mashabane, and the Department of Trade and Industry and Minister Davies for hosting today's meeting. I'm delighted to see so many high-ranking American officials and American representatives of business here today.

I appreciate Minister Davies reminding us what I do believe is the keystone to our relationship, and that is that the United States, in our strategy towards Sub-Saharan Africa, is working to build partnerships that add value rather than extract it.

And that means that we want to spur efforts for greater economic growth through increased trade and investment in the region. Now we don't come at this from some kind of altruistic prospectus. We actually think that this is good for American business. We think a strong, thriving economy in South Africa and in the region is good for the people in those countries, and that helps to build a more prosperous, peaceful region and world. That's in everyone's interests.

We think increased trade and investment will help create jobs and strengthen economies, and at the same time, help us to reduce poverty and create stability. It also gives us a chance to undergird our very broad strategic relationship with South Africa by the kind of economic growth that is necessary in any democracy. We believe in democracy, our two countries. We're committed to it. But we also know democracy has to deliver, and when it doesn't deliver, that raises questions in people's minds. The best way to answer those questions is for government and business working together in a public-private partnership to deliver the kind of results that both of our peoples deserve.

I'd like to describe just a few steps that we're taking to strengthen our relationships and why our ties to South Africa are central to this effort. As you've already heard, we share a strong economic relationship to build on. The United States exported more than $7 billion to South Africa in 2011, a 30 percent increase from the previous year. This country is obviously our largest export market and largest recipient of foreign direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, South African exports to the United States are also increasing by double-digit percentages on a yearly basis. And that 22 billion that represents our two-way trade in 2011 is a 21 percent increase over the prior year.

We've heard the number 600 representing the American businesses that have put down roots in this country, but that is growing and we encourage that growth. For instance, Amazon.com recently opened a new customer care center in Cape Town employing 500 people, and Amazon plans to hire 1,000 more by 2013. Or One World Clean Energy, a renewable energy company based in Louisville, Kentucky. One World has built a biorefinery that can simultaneously produce electricity, natural gas, ethanol, and biodiesel from organic material. And this project will employ 250 people in South Africa and also teach us both more about what we need to do to achieve clean, renewable energy. We also know that more American companies are ready to do business here, as the people in this room clearly represent. And as the South African Government works to meet its own infrastructure and energy challenges, there are many new opportunities for trade and investment.

Over the next 20 years, the South African Government aims to double its energy production capacity, more than 40 percent of which they intend to have coming from renewable energy sources. Significant investments will be needed during that time to achieve these kinds of energy goals and also to achieve the goals focused on improving South Africa's transportation infrastructure.

For our part, the United States Government is taking steps to help American businesses play a role in that effort. A wide range of government stakeholders is helping to strengthen our economic relationship, from USAID to the Trade and Development Agency to the Foreign Commercial Service. And we are working on what I call economic statecraft, trying to bring our entire government together so that it works in a more seamless way to achieve the goals that we have set. That's why the Export-Import Bank signed a $2 billion declaration of intent with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa to provide financing of U.S. clean energy exports to South Africa to support the infrastructure improvement efforts.

Additionally, USAID recently announced $150 million of support for small and medium enterprises. This initiative targets our development assistance where it will do the most good for the South African economy. SMEs represent 50 percent of South African GDP and nearly 60 percent of the workforce, and too often we have a kind of split picture. We work with large corporations, some of whom are represented here, who are able to really have an impact in a market. We support microfinance for very small enterprises, often one/two people. But we don't pay enough attention to where most of the business comes from, and most of the people are employed in so-called small and medium sized enterprises. And we intend to work with you to try to overcome that.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the South African Department of Transportation are also launching the U.S.-South Africa Aviation Partnership. This effort aims to build South Africa's aviation workforce and build closer ties between our aviation sectors.

And finally, just last month our Overseas Private Investment Corporation approved $65 million in financing for a new private equity investment fund for South African small businesses. The fund will be managed by one of this country's most experienced middle market private equity funds managers with strong black economic empowerment credentials.

So we will continue to look for more ways to deepen our economic partnership with South Africa. And I look forward to working with all of you in the future, because I really believe that this kind of effort of meeting and working and networking and building those relationships is really at the core of being able to achieve what both ministers and I have talked about in broad strokes today. Ultimately it's up to you, the businesses you create, the people you employ, the profits you make that then get plowed back in to creating even more growth and prosperity. And that's the goal that we all seek.

Thank you.

Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank gave the following remarks in Washington, DC

Acting Secretary Blank. I commend Russia for becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) today, as the country brings its over 140 million consumers and a $1.8-trillion economy into the global rules-based trading system. Now that Russia is a member of the WTO, Congress should act to terminate the application of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to Russia and authorize the establishment of permanent normal trade relations with Russia. These actions will give American businesses greater access to and protections within Russia's growing economy, and help U.S. businesses, farmers, ranchers and workers compete on a level playing field with companies from other WTO-member countries. This will increase U.S. exports, strengthen our economy, and create thousands of American jobs. The Obama administration is committed to working with Congress to pass this legislation so that American businesses can enjoy the same benefits in Russia's market that our foreign competitors now have.

Representative Ron Kirk gave the following remarks in Siem Riep, Cambodia

Representative Kirk. A bilateral investment treaty between the United States and Cambodia would encourage investment by improving investment climates, promoting market-based economic reforms, and strengthening the rule of law. Our decision to explore this possibility highlights progress made by Cambodia in fostering a policy environment that treats private investment in an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory way.

A bilateral investment treaty provides binding legal rules regarding one country's treatment of investors from another country. The United States negotiates BITs on the basis of a high-standard model text that provides investors with improved market access, protections from discriminatory, expropriatory, or otherwise harmful government treatment, and a mechanism to pursue binding international arbitration for breaches of the treaty.

Representative Ron Kirk released this statement in Washington, DC

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that today the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Panel Report finding in favor of the United States in the dispute regarding China's pervasive discrimination against U.S. suppliers of electronic payment services.

Representative Kirk. This decision makes it clear that China should honor its WTO commitments to play by the rules and stop discriminating against American financial services providers. Fair and open financial services markets are critical to facilitating global trade. Most of the world's leading providers of the services that enable credit and debit card transactions are headquartered in the United States. These companies employ tens of thousands of American workers. A more efficient credit and debit payment system in China will also enable consumers to buy more goods, including made-in-America products. The WTO panel agreed that China's pervasive and discriminatory practices are unfair to American suppliers of electronic payment services and discriminate at each stage of a payment card transaction. The message to the Government of China is that those practices must end.