The United States is eager to resolve the Russian poultry ban

Lead: March 26 (Reuters) - U.S officials are working to resolve Russia's ban on U.S poultry imports, despite recent talks in Moscow that did not reach an agreement, U.S Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday Last week, after two weeks of talks, a US delegation left Moscow The talks are aimed at ending Russia's ban on U.S poultry imports from March 10 "That doesn't mean that we have relaxed our vigilance or stopped the talks." Veneman told reporters during a visit to the Chicago Board of trade "The U.S delegation did go home over the weekend, but they continued to have an exchange of documents and discussions with the Russian agricultural commission and the Russian ambassador." Russia banned imports of chicken and Turkey from the United States, citing concerns about Salmonella contamination and the use of antibiotics in feed U.S government and food industry officials say U.S poultry are safe and have defended Russia's imposition of a poultry ban to protect its growing poultry industry Some analysts have noted that Russia's move was trade retaliation after US President George W Bush announced steel import tariffs on March 6 Steel import tariffs will affect Russia and other exporting countries Bush said the March 13 settlement of the poultry dispute has priority for the administration Last year, the United States shipped about $640 million worth of poultry to Russia, making Russia the number one U.S customer Veneman said he was deeply disappointed that Russia's talks on lifting the poultry ban had not been more effective, especially in the view of Russia's intention to join the world trade organization "If they want to be part of the WTO they are looking for, it seems to me that they will soon have to behave like WTO members and not set up unfair trade barriers," she added On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Kasyanov said he expects to resolve the poultry ban within 30 days But on Tuesday, Russia's agriculture minister said the poultry ban would be terminated once the U.S accepted last week's meat safety demand from Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei gordeyev for U.S ambassador Alexander Vershbow On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Agriculture said, "we are waiting for a response from the US side." Russia requires U.S producers to find meat exports containing Salmonella and exclude them from suppliers' lists until they have passed vets from both sides It also calls for a fight against counterfeiting American veterinary certificates According to U.S industry data, 39% of U.S chicken exports and 17% of U.S Turkey exports entered Russia in 2001 Russia accounted for 8% of all American chicken products and 2% of turkey products in 2001.