For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 24, 2002
President Bush, President Putin Confident with Economic Cooperation
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir V. Putin on Developments in the U.S.-Russian Economic Relationship
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At our first meeting in Ljubljana, we expressed our commitment to
foster a dynamic, forward-leaning economic relationship. We applaud
the tremendous efforts made over the past twelve months to realize this
goal. We are encouraged by the close contacts that are forming between
our business communities and our governments, and the investment and
trade opportunities that are growing out of these relationships.
Success in our bilateral economic and trade relations demands that
we move beyond the limitations of the past. We stress the importance
and desirability of graduating Russia from the emigration provisions of
the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, also known as the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.
We note that the Department of Commerce, based on its ongoing thorough
and deliberative inquiry, expects to make its final decision no later
than June 14, 2002 on whether Russia should be treated as a market
economy under the provisions of U.S. trade law.
We note our emerging energy relationship, which is aimed at
enhancing global energy security and stability of supplies. In view of
the successful advancement of the Sakhalin-I project and the opening of
the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline, we
welcome implementation of more projects in the fuel and energy sector,
including in the area of oil-refining and gas-processing and
transportation as well as development of ports and production
technology. We call for continued cooperation both on the basis of
Production Sharing Agreements and other frameworks so that other
multi-billion dollar joint projects can move forward. We also
encourage our businesses to participate in the Commercial Energy Summit
scheduled for later this year in the United States.
We continue to place high priority on Russia's accession to the
World Trade Organization (WTO), and we reaffirm our commitment to
working together to accelerate Russia's entry on standard terms. We
recognize the recent release of the first draft of the Working Party
report as an important milestone in Russia's accession process.
We welcome the efforts of the Russian-American Business Dialogue,
established at the time of our meeting in Genoa. The joint
recommendations of this private-sector dialogue have been helpful in
advancing mutual efforts to normalize Russian-American business ties,
strengthening corporate governance, and promoting cooperation in
information technology.
We welcome as well the development of the private sector-led
U.S.-Russia Banking Dialogue and its report to governments. We hope
the Dialogue will foster non-discriminatory cooperation between
private-sector financial institutions of Russia and the United States.
Among the important areas of cooperation, we emphasize small business
and mortgage lending, consumer credit, implementation of cutting-edge
technologies, and training of qualified banking personnel.
We welcome the progress made in Russia to establish laws and
institutions to combat money laundering. We support the efforts to
jointly counter financial criminal activities, including within the
framework of the Egmont Group. We attach high importance to
implementation of programs enhancing cooperation in combating
legalization of criminal incomes.
We note the importance of establishing a supportive tax, legal and
regulatory environment for the development of small business, as well
as the need to provide access to financing, and welcome the $100
million expansion of the Russia Small Business Fund of the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development. We encourage other donors to
join the United States in supporting the further expansion of this
effort.
We also welcome the announcement by the United States Overseas
Private Investment Corporation to back a new $100 million "Russia
Private Equity Fund."
We note with satisfaction opportunities for the further development
of successful and mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as
civil aviation, commercial space exploration, the International Space
Station, commercial satellite launches, and joint design and production
of aircraft machinery.
We hail growing aviation cooperation between our two countries
under the Russian-American civil aviation agreement. Since 2001, we
have achieved agreement on the opening of new economically viable
routes, including cross-polar flights.
We are confident that the creation of the Russian-American Working
Group on Trade and Aerospace Cooperation will foster expanded direct
contacts between aerospace corporations and airlines of our countries.
We welcome the positive trends in our cooperation in the area of
information technologies, which is emerging as one of the priority
areas of our bilateral relationship. The introduction of U.S.
companies? advanced technologies in the Russian market, including
through licensed modern software applications, contributes to economic
growth in Russia. We support growing cooperation through services
provided by Russian companies in designing software and high-tech
products on the basis of Russia's existing scientific capabilities. We
welcome the Information Technology Roundtable, which is providing for a
comprehensive exchange of opinion between government agencies and
businesses on removing barriers to business and protecting intellectual
property rights in this area.
We note growing trade cooperation between our countries. As our
trade and economic cooperation gains momentum, we might face certain
contentious issues that must be addressed in a swift, transparent and
constructive manner by taking account of the interests of both sides.
Already existing positive examples of cooperation between U.S. and
Russian companies give us confidence that many new significant and
mutually beneficial projects will be implemented in the course of our
expanding economic cooperation.
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