Obama, Medvedev agree to broaden bilateral ties

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and his visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attend a joint press conference after their meeting at the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 24, 2010. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, June 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed Thursday to reset and broaden the bilateral relationship through "non-security" cooperation.

Medvedev's visit, which is focused on economic and science and technology issues rather than geopolitics revealed improved U.S.-Russia relations as well as Russia's aspiration to lose its over-dependence on energy exports.

RESET RELATIONS BRING SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS

During their meeting, Obama and Medvedev discussed common concerns over security, including nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, Russia's relations with its European neighbors, the U.S. missile defense plan in Europe, Kyrgyzstan, the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula.

Ben Rhodes, U.S. deputy National Security Adviser, said Medvedev's visit "comes after a period when we've made very substantial progress in resetting the U.S.-Russia relationship."

Under the Obama administration, the U.S. has made repairing relations a priority and adopted three main actions: resuming talks on nuclear disarmament, suspending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's enlargement to eastern Europe and adjusting its missile defense plans in east Europe.

In response, Russia signed a new arms reduction treaty with the United States, opened a new logistic route for U.S. troops to Afghanistan through Russia and supported the U.S. on sanctions against Iran.

But the key note in Medvedev's visit was not consensus on political security, but common ground on economic issues while putting aside differences and seeking common prosperity.

Medvedev Thursday said in a joint press conference that Russia and U.S. "have done a lot to build confidence between our countries" and "have made steps aimed at establishing a more firm construction," but this is not enough for bilateral economic ties to change.

For Medvedev's part, the top priority for his visit was to expand and broaden bilateral trade between Russia and the U.S.

Analysts said Medvedev's visit showed Russia wanted to end its reliance on energy exports and pursue modern strategic development aims.





U.S. President Barack Obama and his visiting Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev walk out of the White House to attend a joint press conference following their meeting in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 24, 2010.(Xinhua/Zhang Jun)

U.S. SUPPORTS RUSSIA'S WTO BID

In an unusual move, Medvedev began his visit to the United States on Tuesday with a stop in California's Silicon Valley by visiting well-known high-tech companies Google, Twitter, Apple and Cisco Systems, and Stanford University.

The visit was the first in Russia's modern history that was not focused on geopolitical issues, but on economic and technological issues.

Last year, Medvedev made the development of innovation a priority of his government, saying Russia should learn from Silicon Valley in a bid to push forward the country's modernization process.

During Medvedev's visit, the Russians have agreed to purchase 50 Boeing 737 airplanes from the United States. The sale, worth 4 billion U.S. dollars, would add up to 44,000 new jobs in the American aerospace industry.

Moreover, entrepreneurs from the United States and Russia also held the first U.S.-Russia business summit at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau, trade between the U.S. and Russia in the first four months of this year was 8.5 billion dollars, showing there is plenty of room to grow.

Obama on Thursday reaffirmed support for Russia's efforts to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying his administration will speed up efforts to conclude relative process.

Obama said 20 years after the end of the Cold War, the U.S.-Russian relationship "has to be about more than just security and arms control," and "has to be about shared prosperity."

The U.S. president said Russia's WTO entry was not only good for Russia, but also good for America and the world economy.

As the biggest economy outside the WTO, Russia bid to join the organization in 1993. However, it has been kept waiting due to divergence with the United States on issues including financial market access, agricultural subsidies and protection of intellectual property.

Russia's WTO bid has long been seen as one of major tests for U.S.-Russian relations, experts said. They consider the issue a drogue on bilateral ties.
DIFFERENCES ON CORE ISSUES LINGER

Some analysts pointed out that, although Russia is keen to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with the United States, the current level is quite low.

Some Russian experts even believe military topics are the only thing the two sides have in common as they have huge differences in economic structure, size and pattern of development.

Also, the potential to promote two-way trade is limited as their economies are not complementary and the United States is not keen on enhancing economic and trade cooperation with Russia, they say.

It is important to remember improved U.S.-Russia ties do not mean the two sides have resolved their differences on core issues. Divergences on national security still exist and will hinder the deepening of their economic ties.

Matthew Rojansky, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said whether Russia understood correctly the intentions of the U.S. to improve ties and the double-track U.S. policy toward issues such as the missile defense shield and NATO expansion would dominate the future of their bilateral relations.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon said the United States would not sacrifice its principles for improving ties with Russia.

So it is highly possible that Russia and the United States will take the path of resetting their bilateral ties further but no major breakthroughs will happen economically or politically

๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑๑۩۞۩๑

Sphere: Related Content