[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 21 (Monday, May 27, 2002)]
[Pages 902-903]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir V. 
Putin on U.S.-Russian People-to-People Contacts

May 24, 2002

    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

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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.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.