ID :
11829
Mon, 07/07/2008 - 19:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/11829
The shortlink copeid
Medvedev first time meets Bush in presidential capacity
TOYAKO (Japan), July 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President George W. Bush on Monday started a series of their personal meeting in the presidential capacity. Ahead of the beginning of the Group of Eight summit they met at the Windsor Hotel. Their previous meeting was held in Sochi in April, but then Medvedev was president-elect and had not assumed office.
At the opening of the meeting the two leaders warmly greeted eachother and presented their delegation members.
Bush noted, greeting Medvedev, that the Russian leader now has arather intensive period when he holds a big number of meetings and makes many visits owing to which he has quite a tight schedule. The Russian leader answered to this that presidents of long standing have the schedule no less busy.
The Russian delegation members said that the parties would discusscontinuity of the two countries' relations - not only in connection with Medvedev's coming to the Kremlin, but also because Bush's presidential term will expire in six months.
"It is exceptionally important to prevent any kind of pause in the development of the Russian-American strategic cooperation in the international arena at this stage of the US internal political life," said Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko referring to the USpresidential election due in November. "We will do everything to preserve in the same volume and develop the positive stock that has been created in the international, antiterrorist, regional cooperation," the presidential aide noted.
Prikhodko said that the power transfer process in Russia has notaffected its relations with the United States. "Our transitional period is already passed, the Americans are yet to go through it," the official stressed. "We have managed to preserve in full measure continuity in the foreign policy course," believes the Russian presidential aide. "The situation is more complicated in the United States and we do not want this to affect the full-scale cooperation in international affairs, because the responsibility of our countries in settling a number of world problems is extremely large," the Russian leader's aide explained.
"America for us is an important partner, and in this very context we are considering the coming meeting," said Prikhodko. "This signal we want to give," he added. "We intend to continue the dialogue on all issues without any interruptions and pauses," the presidential aide noted.
"For the Russian side it would be especially important to see that the current US administration does not intend to slow down our dialogue - we have six more months of full-fledged work with the Bush team, we have many current issues that we hope to settle or at least secure their advancement in the still available time," Prikhodko added.
However, Medvedev and Bush will not overlook the existingdisagreements, he forecasted. "The general balance in the Russian-American strategic dialogue remains positive, which certainly does not mean that there are no incongruities and serious disagreements in it," Prikhodko noted. "These are first of all the interrelated issues of missile defence and strategic offensive weapons. The Russian side openly voices its concern over the state of affairs in this sphere," the diplomat stressed.
Prikhodko reiterated the position of the Kremlin on the missiledefence issue. "We are against unilateral plans of bringing the strategic military infrastructure closer to our borders, we have a reasonable alternative of joint and equal reacting to hypothetical missile threats, it remains in force," he said.
The presidential aide noted that at the Sochi meeting in April Bush "heard our concerns and promised to take measures to remove them." "It appears, unfortunately, that at the executive level his signal has withered," Prikhodko said. "We hope that the meeting in Toyako will give an additional stimulus to the American negotiators for the intensification of work on the real, not propagandist taking into account of our concern," he added.
In the words of Prikhodko, the same situation is developing around the START. "There is no progress in actual fact: Russia is still being offered a "phantom" - represented by measures of transparency excluding control over strategic carriers and a number of other components of strategic offensive arms," he explained. "We still hope that over the time ahead of the presidential election Bush in the White House will manage to change the situation in order to reach mutual understanding before the end of the year," the diplomat noted. "The whole international community expects this from us," according to the Russian Presidential aide.
Prikhodko noted that the sides "still have disagreements on Kosovo, on the future control over conventional weapons in the context of the CFE Treaty, and on the plans of involvement of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO." "For us it is still the 'red line' for the development of relations with the North Atlantic Alliance and the United States, in particular," he explained. "I think the Russian president will confirm this in the conversation with Bush," said Prikhodko.
"He will for certain tell in more detail also about the alternative on building of new dividing lines in Europe proposed by him in Berlin recently - the idea on working out of a new European security treaty," believes the Russian presidential aide.
The presidential aide said the meeting is "a good opportunity to talk not only on the agenda of the G8 forum, but also to discuss important bilateral problems, including certainly in their global dimension, because the Russian-American relations as such reach far beyond the bilateral framework and embrace in essence the whole spectrum of international relations."Kremlin officials expressed concern over the fact that the problem of setting of a normal trade relations regime for Russia in trade with the United States on a permanent basis is still unresolved. "This is first of all the issue of the Jackson-Vanik amendment due to which the regime is currently temporary," the presidential aide noted.
"The repeal of this amendment and discriminatory restrictions ingeneral will make it possible to transfer in our bilateral trade relations to the WTO rules. Otherwise the interests of American exporters themselves will be damaged," Prikhodko warned.
At the same time he expressed optimism regarding the possibility to complete the procedure of Russia's admission to the WTO before the end of the year. "The US administration is providing assistance to us at multilateral talks," he stressed.
In the words of Prikhodko, at the talks between Medvedev and Bush the sides are also to discuss the energy security issue. "With taking into account Russia's role in ensuring the global international energy security, orientation towards the strengthening of its status of thestable supplier of energy resources to world markets, the importance of the bilateral energy dialogue will be growing," believes the Russian presidential aide.
At the opening of the meeting the two leaders warmly greeted eachother and presented their delegation members.
Bush noted, greeting Medvedev, that the Russian leader now has arather intensive period when he holds a big number of meetings and makes many visits owing to which he has quite a tight schedule. The Russian leader answered to this that presidents of long standing have the schedule no less busy.
The Russian delegation members said that the parties would discusscontinuity of the two countries' relations - not only in connection with Medvedev's coming to the Kremlin, but also because Bush's presidential term will expire in six months.
"It is exceptionally important to prevent any kind of pause in the development of the Russian-American strategic cooperation in the international arena at this stage of the US internal political life," said Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko referring to the USpresidential election due in November. "We will do everything to preserve in the same volume and develop the positive stock that has been created in the international, antiterrorist, regional cooperation," the presidential aide noted.
Prikhodko said that the power transfer process in Russia has notaffected its relations with the United States. "Our transitional period is already passed, the Americans are yet to go through it," the official stressed. "We have managed to preserve in full measure continuity in the foreign policy course," believes the Russian presidential aide. "The situation is more complicated in the United States and we do not want this to affect the full-scale cooperation in international affairs, because the responsibility of our countries in settling a number of world problems is extremely large," the Russian leader's aide explained.
"America for us is an important partner, and in this very context we are considering the coming meeting," said Prikhodko. "This signal we want to give," he added. "We intend to continue the dialogue on all issues without any interruptions and pauses," the presidential aide noted.
"For the Russian side it would be especially important to see that the current US administration does not intend to slow down our dialogue - we have six more months of full-fledged work with the Bush team, we have many current issues that we hope to settle or at least secure their advancement in the still available time," Prikhodko added.
However, Medvedev and Bush will not overlook the existingdisagreements, he forecasted. "The general balance in the Russian-American strategic dialogue remains positive, which certainly does not mean that there are no incongruities and serious disagreements in it," Prikhodko noted. "These are first of all the interrelated issues of missile defence and strategic offensive weapons. The Russian side openly voices its concern over the state of affairs in this sphere," the diplomat stressed.
Prikhodko reiterated the position of the Kremlin on the missiledefence issue. "We are against unilateral plans of bringing the strategic military infrastructure closer to our borders, we have a reasonable alternative of joint and equal reacting to hypothetical missile threats, it remains in force," he said.
The presidential aide noted that at the Sochi meeting in April Bush "heard our concerns and promised to take measures to remove them." "It appears, unfortunately, that at the executive level his signal has withered," Prikhodko said. "We hope that the meeting in Toyako will give an additional stimulus to the American negotiators for the intensification of work on the real, not propagandist taking into account of our concern," he added.
In the words of Prikhodko, the same situation is developing around the START. "There is no progress in actual fact: Russia is still being offered a "phantom" - represented by measures of transparency excluding control over strategic carriers and a number of other components of strategic offensive arms," he explained. "We still hope that over the time ahead of the presidential election Bush in the White House will manage to change the situation in order to reach mutual understanding before the end of the year," the diplomat noted. "The whole international community expects this from us," according to the Russian Presidential aide.
Prikhodko noted that the sides "still have disagreements on Kosovo, on the future control over conventional weapons in the context of the CFE Treaty, and on the plans of involvement of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO." "For us it is still the 'red line' for the development of relations with the North Atlantic Alliance and the United States, in particular," he explained. "I think the Russian president will confirm this in the conversation with Bush," said Prikhodko.
"He will for certain tell in more detail also about the alternative on building of new dividing lines in Europe proposed by him in Berlin recently - the idea on working out of a new European security treaty," believes the Russian presidential aide.
The presidential aide said the meeting is "a good opportunity to talk not only on the agenda of the G8 forum, but also to discuss important bilateral problems, including certainly in their global dimension, because the Russian-American relations as such reach far beyond the bilateral framework and embrace in essence the whole spectrum of international relations."Kremlin officials expressed concern over the fact that the problem of setting of a normal trade relations regime for Russia in trade with the United States on a permanent basis is still unresolved. "This is first of all the issue of the Jackson-Vanik amendment due to which the regime is currently temporary," the presidential aide noted.
"The repeal of this amendment and discriminatory restrictions ingeneral will make it possible to transfer in our bilateral trade relations to the WTO rules. Otherwise the interests of American exporters themselves will be damaged," Prikhodko warned.
At the same time he expressed optimism regarding the possibility to complete the procedure of Russia's admission to the WTO before the end of the year. "The US administration is providing assistance to us at multilateral talks," he stressed.
In the words of Prikhodko, at the talks between Medvedev and Bush the sides are also to discuss the energy security issue. "With taking into account Russia's role in ensuring the global international energy security, orientation towards the strengthening of its status of thestable supplier of energy resources to world markets, the importance of the bilateral energy dialogue will be growing," believes the Russian presidential aide.
