Russia has been asked to join a key Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) group committed to the fight against bribery, and to accede to the Organization's Anti-Bribery Convention, a move seen as an important step in Russian membership negotiations.

Letters were exchanged between OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría, the Russian First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Denisov, and the country's Minister for Economic Development during the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on May 25, formally inviting Russian participation in both the OECD’s Working Group on Bribery and the Convention.

The Convention entered into force in 1999, and outlaws the bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions. Through country monitoring and extensive peer-led follow-up, the OECD Convention seeks to ensure that the fight against bribery is effective, thus creating a level playing field for fair competition.

At the beginning of May, the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed legislation which the OECD sees as having clearly criminalized foreign bribery, with a significant increase in the monetary sanctions for companies and individuals bribing foreign public officials to gain business advantages.

Russia first requested accession to the Convention in February, 2009, and, pending approval from the country's parliament, Russia will join the four other non-OECD states - Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, and South Africa - already a party to it.

Gurría said of the invitation: “This is a significant milestone in Russia’s accession to the OECD. It underlines the political priority that the Russian government has given to its fight against bribery and corruption.”

This is the second indication given in recent weeks by the OECD of an increasingly praise-giving attitude towards Russia. On May 17, Gurría welcomed changes to Russia's transfer pricing rules designed to improve efficiency and reduce tax avoidance. These legislative amendments, the OECD says, bring improved compliance with its Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations. Conforming with these internationally-agreed tax standards is, according to the OECD, a key element of accession talks.