- Congress may vote on lifting the trade amendment this month, Clinton tells Lavrov
- The Jackson-Vanik amendment was passed in 1974 as a way to pressure Russia
- Clinton is in Russia for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting
- She also discusses Syria and Iran with her Russian counterpart
(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled Saturday that Congress could move to repeal Cold War-era legislation governing trade relations with Russia as soon as this month.
Clinton's comments came as she met with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the Russian city of Vladivostok, where she is standing in for President Barack Obama at the head of the U.S. delegation to the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, briefing reporters, said Clinton anticipated that the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment would be taken up by Congress in September and could be lifted "quite soon."
The amendment was passed in 1974 as a way of pressuring Russia to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, that was no longer an issue, but legislators kept the amendment on the books to pressure Russia on other issues.
The United States has waived it every year since 1994, but it still violates World Trade Organization rules requiring members of the body to give one another permanent normal trade relations.
Russia finally entered the WTO this summer, raising the stakes for the United States to end a measure that critics warn could end up costing it business.
Clinton discussed the Jackson-Vanik amendment, among other issues, with Lavrov over a working breakfast, Nuland said.
"She said that the Congress was going to start voting and that we have strongly pushed and been supportive, and we think that it's time for Jackson-Vanik to be repealed," Nuland said of Clinton.
The Secretary of State shares the concerns of many in Congress about the human rights situation in Russia "and we're continuing to talk to them about those issues," Nuland added.
Clinton and Lavrov also discussed the ongoing situations in Syria and Iran, Nuland said.
On Syria, the themes were similar to discussions held in St. Petersburg in June, Nuland said.
"We remain extremely concerned that if the UN Security Council doesn't take a stronger stand in support of peace and security, that it is abrogating its responsibility, that we need to do it in a way where there are consequences for noncompliance, which the Russians have not been supportive of in the past and which we really think are necessary if it's going to actually advance the ball," Nuland said.
Clinton also made clear to Lavrov that U.S. concerns extended to the "extremely negative effect" of the ongoing conflict in Syria on stability in the wider region, Nuland said.
Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin had dinner Saturday evening, and the question of Syria was expected to come up again.
The pair is also due to discuss Iran, the global economic situation, and the bilateral trade and investment environment in the wake of Russia joining the WTO.
In the course of their meeting Saturday morning, Clinton and Lavrov signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the Arctic and another on strengthening U.S.-Russian inter-regional cooperation.
The Obama administration had previously indicated its desire to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment as part of its "reset" of U.S. relations with Moscow.
And in an editorial in The Wall Street Journal in June, Clinton argued that leaving the amendment in place could hurt U.S. interests.
Ending Jackson-Vanik is not "a gift to Russia," Clinton wrote. "It is a smart, strategic investment in one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. goods and services."
Clinton's visit to Russia is the last stop on a week-and-a-half-long trip to the Asia Pacific region.
She became the first U.S. secretary of state Thursday to visit East Timor since the developing Southeast Asian nation gained full independence from Indonesia 10 years ago, meeting with President Taur Matan Ruak and Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao. She also stopped by Brunei.
Earlier in the week, she held a series of meetings with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, in Beijing.
Her tour started in the Cook Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, followed by a visit to Indonesia, an increasingly important regional player.
CNN's Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
