For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 24, 2002
Joint Statement on People-to-People Contacts
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir V. Putin on U.S.-Russian People-To-People Contacts
In keeping with the spirit of cooperation between our two countries, we
affirm the importance of strengthening contacts between our societies
and citizens. We are confident that direct links between our cities,
states and regions, businesses, educational, research, and medical
institutions, and non-governmental organizations increase communication
and promote understanding and trust between the United States and
Russia.
Over the past decade, direct ties between Americans and Russians
have grown rapidly, and they continue to broaden and deepen, including
through joint business ventures and trade and economic relationships,
academic and cultural exchanges, and cooperative efforts aimed at
protecting the environment and developing new medical technologies and
cures for the most deadly diseases. Such cooperation now goes beyond
programs, projects, and agreements financed by our governments; our
primary role in the future should be to support this trend by removing
legal, bureaucratic, and other impediments. Recognizing the mutual
benefits of travel for our private and official visitors, the United
States and Russia are committed to streamlining visa practices and
taking additional steps to facilitate travel. To this end, we have
agreed to reduce substantially visa fees for participants in student
and school exchanges.
We note that government-supported partnerships between American and
Russian institutions are flourishing: they include 94 Russian-American
sister cities, 8 hospital partnerships, and 37 university
partnerships. In addition, more than 100 U.S.-Russian community and
institutional partnerships have been forged between local governments,
judges, businesses, professional associations, and other
non-governmental groups.
We also recognize the strong ties between American and Russian
regions and cities, especially the Russian Far East and the U.S. West
Coast. Thanks to existing intergovernmental agreements, Native
American and Russian citizens can visit their relatives in Alaska and
Chukotka visa-free. In an effort to stimulate more of these regional
ties, we have just begun a new program which will use U.S.-Russian
partnerships to facilitate cooperation, strengthen civil society and
media, and improve the business climate in the Russian Far East and the
Volga Federal District.
Government-supported exchange programs that send Russians to the
United States and Americans to Russia have also grown exponentially
over the past decade. Under these programs, more than 50,000 Russian
students, scientists, legislators and others have been hosted by
families and communities in all 50 American states. Last year alone,
about 1,000 Russian entrepreneurs visited the United States to exchange
experiences and develop mutually profitable ties with their American
hosts; these business exchanges are set to increase significantly this
year. Meanwhile, thousands of American scholars, scientists, business
people, health care professionals, language teachers, and other experts
from many walks of life have spent time in virtually every region of
Russia, working side-by-side with their Russian colleagues.
We will also continue to support our partnership in the critically
important area of health care. Our priorities are fighting such
infectious diseases as tuberculosis, improving maternal and child
health in order to reduce maternal and child mortality, and combating
cardiovascular disease. The United States and Russia are committed to
preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. In three regions in Russia, we are
currently carrying out health education programs aimed at high-risk
populations. We are pleased to note that funding will now be provided
for an HIV/AIDS prevention program in a fourth site -- St. Petersburg
and Leningrad Oblast. In addition, joint programs for the treatment of
tuberculosis within the framework of the World Health Organization are
now underway in a number of Russian regions.
We will promote further expansion of contacts in such areas of
cooperation as information technology, the natural and social sciences,
and areas of fundamental research, such as fusion energy and
high-energy physics.
A viable and independent media sector is an integral component of
democracy in both our countries. Accordingly, we initiated the Media
Entrepreneurship Dialogue in November. This dialogue has brought
together American and Russian media professionals in a
business-to-business partnership to exchange experience in resolving
problems facing the media, including those of ensuring the development
of commercially viable independent media. We welcome the successful
development of this dialogue. We also welcome a new partnership
starting this year that will bring together Moscow State University's
journalism school with an American school of journalism to develop
curricula and materials used for training media managers and
journalists.
The availability and use of the Internet in both the United States
and Russia has increased dramatically in recent years, greatly
facilitating communication between our two peoples. Both governments
will do all in their power to create the conditions for information to
flow freely within and between our two countries.
Both of our countries are rich in the vast territories they cover
and in the diversity of their populations. Respecting the spiritual,
cultural, and ethnic legacies of our nations, we affirm our commitment
to universal values in the sphere of human rights and religious
freedoms. We will seek to promote a climate of mutual tolerance and
respect between different creeds and beliefs. To advance these goals,
new initiatives are being developed to support Russian and American
non-governmental organizations.
Our governments intend to promote further cultural interchange
between our two countries, including the organization of exchanges
between national museums, theaters, operas, ballets, orchestras, and
individual artists. In addition, we will seek to promote activities
that will enable American and Russian scholars, artists, and ordinary
citizens to learn more about one another's history, language, and
culture. We encourage the establishment of new contacts between
American and Russian organizations such as the agreement between the
State Hermitage Museum and the S. Guggenheim Foundation.
Through the centuries, Russia's great poets, novelists, painters,
composers, and scientists have made brilliant contributions to world
civilization, and Americans find their own lives enriched by learning
more about this cultural legacy. Similarly, Russians have shown a
great interest in learning more about American contributions to the
arts and sciences. Increased appreciation of each other's cultures
will help advance relations between our two nations into the future.
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