PRESIDENT PUTIN: Good
morning. We've just finished a meeting with the President of
the United States, and discussed the issues on a whole wide range of
subjects. First and foremost, I wanted to say with great
satisfaction that our meeting was held in a very frank and open
atmosphere, and there is no doubt, absolutely, that I can say and
confirm that we've maintained not only, but in many ways strengthened
the spirit of Ljubljana.
Naturally, we discussed the issues that
were raised at the G8, issues of security, environment, education,
security. And the issue here led us to discuss the world
architecture of the 21st century and the way to improve civilization in
the future.
I can frankly tell you that this part we
discussed together, just one-on-one with the
President. It seemed to me that his mental reasoning is very
deep, very profound. We were both very interested in having
a continuation of this dialogue with the American people, with its
leader. Approaches which were stated by the President in the past,
without any doubt, are going to be studied by us, and I can repeat once
again will be positively accepted.
President Bush and I have analyzed how our
recent accords are now being implemented. We've put forth
several new steps in terms of setting forth a long-term cooperation
which is not subject to any kind of deal-makings, but a very good,
sound, long-lasting attitude. Today in Russia we have a very
positive dynamism, and we have stated that, as well.
The differences in approaches on a couple
of topics is still there. However, what is more important is that we
are aimed -- both of us are aiming at partnership, to look forward,
well-reasoned, well-balanced, carefully weighed approaches and
solutions.
Naturally, we discussed the issue of
strategic stability. There we spent a lot of
time. We talked in great detail. We've reached a
most important accord, agreement on the beginning and the schedule for
consultations. In Ljubljana, we talked about setting up a
working group, or series of working groups. As you know, in
Moscow here, in a few days, Condoleezza Rice will come to visit us and
we will work out finally the group structure within the overall
interagency structure of foreign ministry, defense ministry and
others.
I have to say that to some extent what was
unexpected both for me, and I think for President Bush, as well, was
the understanding that was reached today between us on the issue that
the offensive arms and issue of defensive arms will be discussed as a
set. We're going to be talking about the mutual striving
toward cutting back significantly offensive arms. We're not really
ready at this time to talk about the threshold limits or the numbers,
themselves. But a joint striving exists and the specialists
will get together and they'll make some recommendations. But
we are aiming at moving in that direction.
I told the President of the United States
about our proposal, vis a vis, the start of consultations on strategic
stability issues as a whole. And I think that in the very nearest
future, I repeat once again, that our specialists are going to work in
this direction. I think they're going to make a lot of
progress and be quite successful.
Naturally, we discussed very, very sharp
problems in regional issues. We talked about joining our forces in
trying to solve some conflicts. We repeat again that the
overall dialogue on getting our positions coordinated is the very best
approach to U.S.-Russian relations.
Bilateral issues were especially stressed;
economic cooperation. And I have to say here that we have a
common approach towards developing very dynamically in this
sphere. We have very good precedence and very good
foundations for this.
We also know that our business societies
are also very interested in this. We've discussed a series
of contacts and the schedule for upcoming contacts in the economic
field; talked about our next meeting. The nearest one will
be the APEC meeting in Shanghai, and then the President very kindly
confirmed his invitation to me to come to the United States, and we
talked about that agenda, too.
So that's all I wanted to say as an
opening remark. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Mr.
President. First, both of us believe strongly that the
summit we just attended was a success, and we want to thank the people
of Italy and Genoa for their hospitality.
Secondly, we did have a very constructive
dialogue, which certainly made -- made my impressions of Slovenia,
confirmed my impressions of Slovenia, that this was a man with whom I
could have an honest dialogue; that we can discuss our opportunities
and have frank discussion of our differences, which we did.
I appreciate so very much President
Putin's willingness to think differently about how to make the world
more peaceful. He cares deeply about the citizens of his
land. I, obviously, care deeply about the citizens of my
land. We're young leaders who are interested in forging a
more peaceful world.
And along these lines, as the President
said, that we're going to have open and honest dialogue about defensive
systems, as well as reduction of offensive systems. The two
go hand-in-hand in order to set up a new strategic framework for
peace. And along these lines, as the President mentioned, my
National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, will be visiting in
Moscow, the purpose of which is to lay out a specific timetable of
discussions between our defense ministers and our foreign ministers.
So as we can continue progress to find
common ground in a -- to make the world more peaceful, both of us want
to seize the moment and lead. And I appreciate this attitude
so very much with President Putin.
Secondly, we did talk, spent time
discussing economic cooperation. There will be a statement put out
after the meeting -- on both, by the way, the strategic framework
discussions, as well as the economic cooperation along these
lines. Secretary Evans and Secretary O'Neill will be Moscow
next week to discuss a wide range of topics.
But one of the things that is clear and
evident is that the President understands the need to create a
framework for entrepreneurial activity. As I mentioned in my last
press conference, I will mention this again, I am impressed by the fact
that he has instituted tax reform -- a flat tax. And as he
pointed out to me, it is one of the lowest tax rates in
Europe. He and I share something in common: we
both proudly stand here as tax reformers. And I think the
American business leaders who look to Russia will appreciate certainty
in the tax code, and certainly will appreciate a lower tax rate than in
other places.
But we've got a lot of areas for growth
and discussion, ranging from international trade to investment
opportunities within the Federation.
With that, I will be glad to answer --
both of us will be glad to answer a few questions from
you. Let's make your questions short, so that we won't leave
my wife waiting at the tarmac in Rome. (Laughter.)
Q You were saying
just a little while ago about how strategic stability and space has
been discussed. How do you see the biggest difficulties in
this dialogue? What are the principal differences between
the two countries? And how do you see overcoming these
differences?
And your proposal on conference, holding a
conference in Moscow on the environment, how were the other G8 partners
receiving your invitation to Moscow?
PRESIDENT PUTIN: As far as the
ABM Treaty and the issues of offensive arms, I've already said we've
come to the conclusion that two of these issues have to be discussed as
a set, as one set. This is not doubt whatsoever; one and the
other are very closely tied. Neither one, nor the other side
should feel it's somehow threatened or constrained.
I felt and continue to feel that these
most important kinds of issues, we have to maintain a balance, thanks
to which mankind could live in an environment of stability and relative
peace. This is an issue of principle. And that's
first.
Second, we share the position of the U.S.
President on the need to have large cuts in offensive arms; I've
already spoken to this. And together, we're going to move
forward in this direction, substantially changing the situation in the
world, making it better throughout the whole world, reducing the
thresholds of confrontation. Without any doubt, this would
ameliorate the climate throughout the whole world. There has
to be absolutely no doubt that this is going to happen.
Now, as far as your issue on the
international conference in Russia on the ecology or the environment,
and reducing the dangers to the environment, I can say the
following: Prior to coming here to Genoa, I held a meeting
with our specialists, with our physicists, our scientists, members of
the cabinet who are involved in environmental affairs.
And I have to say that in Russia, we have
some people, some specialists who are known throughout the world,
really big-time specialists. And they told me that even if
we fully implement the Kyoto Protocol, fully, this is going to affect
the climate as it is today, but the changes to that will be very
minor. In other words, the Kyoto Protocol is simply not
sufficient to substantially improve the ecology in the world; although
the movement that we're moving in is in the right direction.
But I want to say that Russia is still for
the Kyoto Protocol. But what's important is that the
scientists themselves, political leaders, ecologists, people in
society, government leaders, never, ever got together
once. Each of these groups sits there alone, and out of
their own corner reviews this issue. And the thought was to
get everybody together on one common platform.
This was supported very energetically by
the President of the United States and by other
colleagues. Along with that, President Chirac stressed the
need to attract the civilian population, the non-specialists, to have
them participate, people from society at large. And for
this, I want to thank our colleagues for having supported
this. Thank you very much.
Q President Putin
said several days after your first meeting that Russia would --
arsenal, which you needed to -- two meetings -- have you convinced him
to scrap the ABM Treaty without building up his nuclear arsenal?
And to you, Mr. President, you just said
there is absolutely no doubt that there will be reductions on the
Russian side of its nuclear arsenal. Does that mean that you are no
longer saying that you will increase your arsenal if the U.S. proceeds
with missile defense? Have you changed your position?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, first,
Ron, let me start by saying how optimistic I am about the possibilities
of reaching an accord. It's -- one of the things about the
person with whom I'm talking -- President Putin -- is that he has
agreed, like I have agreed, to find common ground, if possible.
So I believe that we will come up with an
accord. Let me say this -- I know we'll work to an accord,
to see if we can't reach an accord about both a new strategic framework
for defensive weapons, as well as the need to reduce offensive weapons
in order to make the world more peaceful.
The only thing I can do is characterize,
once again characterize our discussions as open and optimistic and very
positive. I was struck by how easy it is to talk to
President Putin, how easy it is to speak from my heart, without, you
know, fear of complicating any relationship. And I enjoyed
listening to what he has to say, as well.
I'm optimistic that we can get something
done. And it's with that spirit that we send Condi Rice to
Moscow to formalize the process; to answer questions -- inevitably,
there will be questions because, after all, what we're talking about
doing is changing a mind-set of the world. We're basically
saying, the Cold War is forever over, and the vestiges of the Cold War
that locked us both into a hostile situation are over. And
we're exploring the opportunity to redefine the strategic framework for
keeping the peace not that as existed in the past, but a strategic
framework as we go out in the 21st century. It's an exciting
opportunity. And I can tell you that the discussions have
been very meaningful.
Mr. President.
PRESIDENT PUTIN: Thank
you. Now, as far as possible answer or response, as you say,
from Russia, in the event that one side leaves the ABM Treaty, from the
1972 treaty, then I can say the following. We were talking
about the possible kinds and versions of response in the event that one
side comes out unilaterally. I was not talking about
increasing the missiles. I was talking about how you would
substitute single-unit warheads, make them MIRV warheads.
But, as we said today -- if, as we said
today and, if, as we understood from each other today, we are ready to
look at the issue of offensive and defensive systems together as a set,
we might not ever need to look at that option. But this is
one of the subjects of our future discussions.
As a whole we agreed, in general, that in
any version, today we can go forward toward reducing offensive
arms. I'm telling you this with full responsibility and I'm
telling you that within -- this is an issue of the qualitative and
quantitative numbers. But this is, of course -- we'll let
the specialists sit down and talk about those numbers.
Q A question to
both Presidents. Please tell us how you assess the Genoa
summit results from the point of view of the future G8s, because you've
got all these anti-globalists demonstrators and others.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I'm
looking forward to future G8 summits. People should be allowed to
protest in a peaceful way. The great thing about freedom is,
it provides an outlet for people to express their differences.
Having said that, I believe that which we
discussed today and the last couple of days will make the world a heck
of a lot more prosperous and peaceful place. The philosophy
of free trade and starting a new round of free trade discussions makes
eminent sense, not only for those who happen to be prosperous today,
but for those who aren't.
And all the demonstrators and all the
folks have to do is ask the leaders who came from the developing
nations. Ask my friend from El Salvador what trade means to
him. And so I reiterate what I said before. People are
allowed to protest, but for those who claim they're speaking on behalf
of the poor, for those who claim that shutting down trade will benefit
the poor, they're dead wrong.
PRESIDENT PUTIN: I have to tell
you that the people who are out on the streets, then talked about the
issues of the poor countries and their problems, and those who gathered
within the framework of the 8 were all taken by one and the same series
of issues. In this sense, we can say that we're all of the
same mind. But unlike those who chose these extremist ways
of expressing their minds, those who worked here tried to find
solutions, ways to get to the end solution -- specific kinds of
solutions, which realistically could affect, I hope, will affect the
condition in which the very poorest countries are living in the world
today.
That's why I very highly praise the
results, the level and the nature and the character of these
discussions. I think we need these kinds of meetings, and I
think they will be, they will continue. Naturally, we're
going to have to pay more attention to the quality of the kinds of
decisions that we take and how to implement them fully to the end.
Now, as far as the dialogue with civil
society, one of the fora and one of the ways of discussing is in a
civilized fashion. We can only -- and one of the ways of
doing it is holding the international conference in Moscow in 2003 and
talking about the environment. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, I
understand that currency issues were discussed at the leaders
summit. I'm wondering, how did you explain the benefits of a
strong dollar, since you've already acknowledged that it hurts U.S.
exporters, and over here it's putting inflationary pressure on the ECB
and stopping them from cutting interest rates?
And, President Putin, I'm just wondering
how does a strong dollar affect your economy? Thank you.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, let me
reiterate what I said after my World Bank speech. The dollar
needs to float in the marketplace, and that the dollar -- if the market
is allowed to function, the dollar will be at an appropriate
level. And there are both, obviously, there are some that
want us to artificially -- the dollar in our country, and that's not
the role, in my judgment, of the country. The market ought
to do that, not the nation.
And so I continued to assure my friends
and allies that we will let the market adjust. I also
assured them that we were taking the steps necessary within our country
to strengthen our economy.
I was able to herald the fact that the
first rebate checks made it into the mail, and I heralded it from a
remote location, here in Genoa. And the reason I bring that up is that
many of the world leaders are deeply concerned about the slowdown of
the U.S. economy and its effect not only on the dollar, but also the
effect on trade. And I assured them that from a fiscal
perspective, one, we're going to hold the line on spending, that we had
a budget and I expect Congress to meet the budget; secondly, that we
did reduce taxes substantially and the first wave of tax relief was in
the mail; and, thirdly, that our Fed, independent of the government,
was making the monetary decisions. And I think people were
pleased to hear that we're working hard to revitalize our economy.
PRESIDENT PUTIN: The United
States is the main trade and economic partner for
Russia. And this is the main investor in Russia, of all the
investors and one of the main economic and trade
partners. So the stability of the U.S. economy substantially
affects our economic situation.
As you know, over the last year in Russia,
we've noticed certain positive trends, and there is no doubt in our
minds that we're interested in the stability of the U.S. economy as a
whole and their currency. The dollar for us is the most
important -- the main form of payment in most of our
operations. Thank you.
Q Which regional
conflicts, in your estimation, are the greatest threat to international
security? What were the results when you discussed these
issues at the G8? And what jointly could U.S. and Russia do
in this arena?
PRESIDENT PUTIN: Well, of
course, these are the Balkans and the Middle East, above
all. I have to say that I'm satisfied by the nature of the
results of this discussion. But it seems to me that this
time we heard each other much more, much better, understand each
positions much better in all these conflict areas.
And what's important -- I don't know if my
colleague will agree with me, but I get the feeling that trust in each
other, within the framework of trying to settle these issues is
beginning to arrive. This is very important foundation,
trust. So we're going to continue coordinating our efforts
both in the Balkans and the Middle East, taking into account the
interest of all the parties that are drawn into this conflict.
And on the way toward coordinating our
efforts, we have to work out unified approaches. And this,
here lies the success. This is very
important. Because if we create some kind of cracks or
fissures through which you can have leakage of certain extremist
forces, it's going to wreck the whole process. So here,
getting together, drawing together, here was very positive and a
positive nature. Thank you.
Q Thank you,
sir. Mr. President, President Chirac and Prime Minister
Chretien both say that you promised to have a global warming package
ready for the Marrakesh meeting in September. Your staff
says that that's not quite true. Who is right,
sir? What exactly did you tell the leaders?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, given the
room temperature here I'm not surprised you brought up the subject of
warming. (Laughter) So I'll try to keep my answer
short, for the benefit of all, particularly those of us who must do
something in Rome.
Here's what I said. I said my
administration has had a full-scale review of the climate issue; that
we're in the process of developing a strategy as quickly as we possibly
can and one that we look forward to sharing with our friends and
allies. A strategy that begins with the notion that we want
to reduce greenhouse gasses in America. A strategy, also,
that takes a realistic look at how best to do so, a look based upon
science and a look with a notion that we can have economic growth and
sound environmental policy.
I made it clear to our friends and allies
that the methodology of the current protocol is one that, if
implemented, would severely affect economic growth in America, and that
I believe that it makes sense for those who trade with us to make sure
that our environmental policy is one that continues to stimulate
economic activity so that trade means something between nations.
The spirit of our dialogue was very
positive. I guess you could say that I broke the ice during
my last trip to Europe, so people understood exactly where I was coming
from. There should be no doubt in their mind about our
position -- that we share the goal, but we believe that, strongly
believe that we need to find a methodology of achieving the goal that
won't wreck the U.S. economy.
And we're making progress on
that. I'm very confident that the leaders appreciated my
straightforwardness the last time I came to Europe and my willingness
to continue to dialogue on this very important issue.
We have a representative at the Bonn
summit. I saw her on TV the other day; she made the case
very clearly -- Paula made the case very clearly about what our
position is. And the Europeans are interested in the
strategy that we're going to adopt. And when it's formulated
I will present it to them. And I look forward to doing
that. And they're going to find out that when I say we're
interested in reducing greenhouse gasses that we mean it.
They're also going to be pleased to hear
that it's going to be in such a way that won't damage their largest
trading partner. And so will the American people, who want to make sure
that there's work and jobs available.
With that, I want to, again, thank my
friend. I look forward to future dialogue. Thank
you all very much for your questions. And again, we thank
the good people of Italy for their kind hospitality.