US-Russian Economic Relations Near Failure

President Dmitry Medvedev hopes to boost the development of the bilateral economic cooperation between Russia and the USA during his forthcoming visit to the United States in summer.

Photo: US-Russian Economic Relations Near Failure

“We indeed have a failure in the economic cooperation,” the Russian president stated.

“Economy, to my mind, is the most neglected sphere in the US-Russian relations. We conduct ongoing dialogues in the field of strategic stability and security, but we have to move forward in economy,” Medvedev said at a news conference in Prague after the signing of the second START Treaty with Barack Obama.

“I am very glad that we talked about the development of high-tech projects in the course of this discussion, about the creation of the so-called new high-tech, smart economy, which is only possible under the conditions of cooperation.

“It is important now to materialize these discussions into certain agreements. I would like it to happen during my visit to the United States this summer,” Medvedev said.

The Russian economy has only $7 billion of US investments, and this number has dropped as a result of the crisis, Interfax reports.

“The amount of Russian investments in the USA is approximately the same, which in general testifies to the parity of interests. But if we compare these numbers with the presence of foreign investors in the American economy, the difference is 20 or 30 times, even if the economic power of a country investing in the USA is comparable to that of Russia,” the president said.

Medvedev and Obama particularly discussed the project of creation of a large cargo plane, issues of cooperation in the nuclear field and other opportunities.

“There can be a lot of bilateral economic projects, and it is perhaps not a prerogative of presidents to deal with every one of them, but we must control the key matters, because our business relations depend on that,” Medvedev said.