mr. pollett, very much. mr. taylor? >> good morning, chairman baucus. >> good morning. >> senator kyl, distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the montana stock growers association regarding our point of view on russia's accession to the world trade organization. my name is watty taylor, and i'm a rancher from kirby, montana. i currently serve as the president of the montana stock growers, one of the nation's oldest and most historically significant cattle ranching organization established in 1884. i along with my wife lila and three sons operate a commercial hereford and angus cattle operation on 34,000 acres in eastern montana. ranching has been a part of my family heritage for many years. 96% of the world population lives outside the borders of the united states. we must have access to the additional demand for beef from consumers that live outside the u.s. if we hope to remain successful. russia was the u.s.'s fifth largest export market for beef in 2011. we

mr. pollett, what do you say about that? i've talked to a number of american businessmen who say i'm not going to go over there. it's too corrupt. >> mr. chairman, i'd like to echo many of the comments made by mr. allen. we have had the similar experience in many markets around the world. when you work outside the united states, you need to be prepared to working in different environments, including addressing corruption. ge, of course, we work according to the rules every country where we are. it does make it more challenging, probably more expensive. you have to have a lot more lawyers in russia. >> what go you tell a midsized company, not as large as ge? >> it is more challenging, to be honest. we have a very large profile in the country. we have large profile at the government as well, and they know who we are. it is easier for us to push back, to be very honest with you. but i've been there for 13 years and seen a very dramatic improvement from what it was like in the late 1980s. >> how much will failure to grant pntr he

mr. pollett, any of you who wish to respond, what should be done about that from u.s. perspective, and does granting ntr help or hurt in that effort. mr. allen? >> from our perspective, we have been doing business for -- as indicated, for a long time, and have had a significant presence now in the last decade. and corruption is an issue there is no doubt that it exists. but there is corruption in a number of countries. and it's the company and its business conduct that is the important part of this. and when we go to these countries, countries like russia we establish strong conduct guidelines. and we assure that our operations run themselves that way. and we think that ends up being a promoter of improved conduct in the entire business community. i can tell you that when you establish a reputation there that way, you can be effective. the plant that you visited was built in nine months. nine months. that's hard to do anywhere in the world. people say it can't be done in russia because of all of the corruption, quote/unquote. it was done ethically, all aboveboard, and d

mr. pollett and mr.larson and the mr. taylor, any of you who wish to respond, what should be done about that from a u.s. perspective and a guide -- does pntr help or hurt in that effort? mr. allen? >> from our perspective, we have been doing business as indicated for a long time and it had a significant presence now in the last decade or grow corruption is an issue. there is no doubt that it exists but there is corruption in a number of countries and it's the company and its business conduct that is the important part of this and when we go to these countries, countries like russia, we establish strong condit guidelines and we assure that our operations run that way and we think that ends up being a promoter of improved conduct in the entire business community. i can tell you that when you establish a reputation there that way you can be effective. the plant that you've visited was built in nine months, nine months. that's hard to do anywhere in the world. people say you can be done in russia because of

mr. ronald pollett. mr. taylor? >> good morning. distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of the montana stockgrowers association regarding our view on the ascension to the wto the organization for russia. my name is watty taylor. i serve as the president of the montana stock growers, the oldest and most significant cattle operations established in 1884. we operate on 30,000 acres in southeastern montana. ranching has been a vital part of my family heritage for many years. then 6% of the world's population lives outside the borders -- 96% of the world's population lives outside u.s. borders. we must have to tantalize and demand outside of the u.s. if we hope to remain -- capitalize on demand outside of the u.s. if we hope to remain competitive. we can now see an increase in exports thanks to the provisions of the wto agreement, which include a large country- specific beef quota, and lower tariffs for high-quality beef. i am confident we can provide a significant amount of high-