Press Release

Press Availability by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez and Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref
Moscow

MINISTER GREF: Esteemed Colleagues, we have spent two very productive days together during the visit of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez to Russia. It has been a very intense visit made up of a number of substantive meetings. I think we have met all of our goals, and among other things we have also had an opportunity to meet with businesses and to discuss the most vital issues in our bilateral relationship. We have agreed on a number of bilateral issues that we still have on our agenda, such as the access of Russian goods and services to the U.S. market, addressing U.S. business issues in Russia, progress on the implementation of obligations that we have undertaken as part of U.S. Russia bilateral deal on WTO accession. I have assured Secretary Gutierrez that we will be in a position to carry out all of our obligations in full, including issues related to intellectual property right protection. The Secretary has assured me that the United States remains committed to Russia 's WTO accession as soon as possible. All-in-all, we are witnessing a very positive development in our economic relationship with the United States, we have a rapid growth of bilateral trade. The United States sixth in accumulated investments in Russia. We have made a point of saying that we have agreed to do whatever we can to make sure that our economies will be brought closer together. I would also like to thank Secretary Gutierrez for his meaningful accomplishments and efforts, and for a very constructive visit. Thanks a lot for finding time in your busy schedule for this trip. We will keep in touch, and have agreed that we will plan my trip to the United States for the second part of this year.

SECRETARY GUTIERREZ: Thank you. It is pleasure to be back in Moscow. I was last here over a year and a half ago, and even in that short period of time I can see the very positive changes and progress has been made in the economy. The purpose of my visit is to meet with officials from the government of Russia, starting with my friend and counterpart Minister Gref, to discuss how we can strengthen our economic relationship. Today, we export from the U.S. to Russia almost five billion dollars. Russia exports about 20 billion dollars the U.S. We also have 11 billion dollars of investment in Russia which helps create jobs and growth. Russia has three billion dollars in direct investment in the United States. As large as those numbers may sound, they are actually very small if you think about the size of our two economies. Russia is a one trillion dollar economy. That makes Russia the tenth largest economy in the world and growing a lot faster than most other economies in the world. If you take into account the size of the U.S. market and the size of the Russian economy, we believe we can do a lot more business together. And by doing business together we will create more jobs in each of our countries, more growth, and most importantly, improve the lives of citizens in both the United States and in Russia, and extremely importantly, strengthen the relationship and strengthen the friendship. It is a pleasure to be back with you. Thank you.

RIA NOVOSTI RUSSIAN NEWS AGENCY: What restrictions does the United States have on Russian goods being imported into the U.S. market, and when do you plan to lift those restrictions? Prior to or after Russian accession to the WTO?

MINISTER GREF: Currently there are four key restrictions imposed on different types of Russian goods in the United States . All four have good prospects for being lifted. Two of them have very proactive negotiations underway: uranium products and ammonium nitrates. I think we are in a position to resolve these issues, and that is what we are going to do. Russia 's accession to the WTO creates new opportunities for Russia.

GAZETA RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER: The United States announced it will actively support Russian accession to the WTO. What measures do you have in mind to support Russian accession in practical terms?

SECRETARY GUTIERREZ: We have signed our bilateral agreement, and we still have some pending items that need to be implemented. We want to move forward quickly and implement those. They include intellectual property rights and agriculture. Where we believe we can be of great help is in working with Russian partners with their multilateral discussions. We are very supportive of Russia joining the WTO. We are also very aware of President Putin's and Minster Gref's desire to join the WTO by year's end. And we want to help in any way we can.

PASSPORT RUSSIAN MAGAZINE. There have been times when out of date British and American technologies have been imported into Russia and pirated. Charges were brought against managers of certain companies and court cases have ensued. How is Russia addressing these issues?

MINISTER GREF: It's the first time I've heard that it's a serious problem. If you have information/evidence of this, please provide it to us so that we can respond properly. As for intellectual property rights, I have already talked about that today. It is the focal point of our government efforts. The second point you raise is on the judicial system, and it's also one of our top priorities. This year we endorsed a new program for the development of the judicial system. In 2000, a judge's salary was less than $200. Now it exceeds $2000. It's just one snapshot of the changes that have taken place over the past 6 years, and the government is paying close attention. I don't think it is going to be resolved quickly, but we are moving in the right direction. I can guarantee that the situation will be better next year.

BLOOMBERG NEWS: Did the U.S. Government raise the selective application of justice in the Price Waterhouse Coopers case?

SECRETARY GUTIERREZ: We have had general discussions about our desire and our encouragement that when any case comes up and when any case is being reviewed that the law been applied consistently and that it's not been applied selectively. That is not something that we bring up only in the event of one case. but that's something that we believe that should be applied regardless of the case, regardless of the size of the company and, frankly, regardless of the origin of the company. Thank you.