Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
General Petraeus Goes to War; Russian President Visits White House
Aired June 24, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We are looking ahead to just what's going to happen in the next couple of minutes. Expecting to hear from the president, some comments from him at the White House. Expecting him to take a couple of questions at a live press event.
We will take you there live when that does happen. You see down at the bottom, we are keeping an eye on it. We will take you there live.
Now, you can expect, probably, a question or two. Maybe the first one that comes at him is going to be about General Stanley McChrystal, the general who, yesterday, he accepted the resignation of, who was his top general in administration.
Well, that general is out now. General Petraeus, David Petraeus, is in, has agreed to take over as the top guy in Afghanistan.
We were hearing from him today. We're also hearing from the other top military man, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen, and also Defense Secretary Gates. They were all speaking today
Let's start though with General Petraeus. He spoke to our Dana Bash, who was able to catch up with him today on Capitol Hill.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Well, it's a privilege to serve. It's obviously a hugely important mission.
It's very sad that I have to assume it in this manner. We obviously all have enormous respect and gratitude to General McChrystal for all that he did. He's played a key role in helping get the inputs right in Afghanistan, as I described on Capitol Hill the second day I testified.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you see yourself doing anything to change the 2011 deadline to begin troop withdrawal?
PETRAEUS: No. As I said, I support the president's policy and I will also provide the best professional military advice as we conduct assessments. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Again, a little choppy there, a little tough to hear some of that audio, but you could read it there as well. Petraeus talking about his mission now moving ahead as the top guy in Afghanistan.
Our Dana Bash catching up with him in the hall.
We also were able to hear from Secretary Gates today. Secretary Gates talking at the Pentagon today. You heard it here live on our air last hour, but talking about in a lot of ways how personal this was for him and how close he is to General McChrystal, hated to see him have to fall like this, but also saying, no doubt, he made just a bad error in judgment. But Secretary Gates also looking ahead, trying to reassure the American public that this war and the policy will continue.
Take a listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: My primary concern over the past few days has been to minimize the impact of these developments on the conduct of the war in Afghanistan. The president's decisions fully and satisfactorily address that concern. This is the best possible outcome to an awful situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Again, Secretary Gates speaking a little earlier today. And we can probably expect when the president steps out -- think he's going to take a couple of questions. So when he does, good chance he might get one or two about General McChrystal and how everything went down yesterday in his one-on-one meeting, then accepting the resignation.
But, again, bottom of your screen, we're keeping an eye. That is a live picture out of the White House. We will take you there live when the president does step out to speak.
Keeping an eye on it. I'm told we do have a two-minute warning before the president steps out.
Let me go to our Jill Dougherty, who is in the room. She is just there with us. You won't be able to see her, but she is in there.
Jill, I believe you can hear me now.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HOLMES: And tell us -- we know the president's here to speak with the Russian -- or have an announcement with the Russian president. But people in the room there, are they anticipating that the president might get a question about Stanley McChrystal? DOUGHERTY: Oh, there's no question. I mean, that is the subject that's really overshadowing a lot of this. And all of the president's people are saying the mission will continue, nothing changes. Personalities change, but the mission does not. But that really is a question.
I mean, are there issues, are there frustrations, are there concerns about things like the July 2011 deadline? Some media operations like "The New York Times" even said let's clean house, let's start new, with a new team. Replace, for example, Richard Holbrooke, who's the special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and replace the ambassador, Eikenberry.
Many different things. Start over.
Perhaps we'll hear some of that answer from the president. But there are serious concerns. And then, of course, we have the serious issues that he wants to discuss with the Russian president.
HOLMES: And we see several other members starting -- other people starting to walk into the room. But, again, like you said there, Jill, this event is supposed to be an event between the president of the U.S. and the president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is in the U.S. He spent some time out in Silicon Valley, out in California, because he is here to tout and pretty much sell his country for investment, trying to build up some partnerships, get people to invest money over in Russia.
That's what this event is supposed to be about. But it certainly sounds like to you, from hearing from you, it's being overshadowed a bit and everybody in the room is buzzing about what happened yesterday.
DOUGHERTY: Yes. Well, we were actually on that trip out west to California, to Silicon Valley, with President Medvedev. In fact, CNN was the only network that was allowed to do that. And it was a fascinating trip. I just got back, in fact, early this morning.
Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and Gentlemen, the president of the United States and the president of the Russian Federation.
BARACK OBAMA:, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES Good afternoon, everybody. Please be seated. Dobry den.
After many meetings around the world, I am delighted to welcome my friend and partner, President Medvedev, to the White House. This is also an opportunity to return the wonderful hospitality that the president, Mrs. Medvedeva, and the Russian people showed me and my family during our visit to Moscow one year ago.
Michelle and I enjoyed a wonderful evening at the president's home. Our daughters will never forget having tea in the winter garden of the Kremlin. And, Mr. President, I hope you'll remember having a burger at Ray's Hell Burger today. We just concluded some excellent discussions, discussions that would have been unlikely just 17 months ago. As we've both said before, when I came into office, the relationship between the United States and Russia had drifted, perhaps to its lowest point since the Cold War. There was too much mistrust and too little real work on issues of common concern. That did not serve the interests of either country or the world.
Indeed, I firmly believe that America's most significant national security interests and priorities could be advanced most effectively through cooperation, not an adversarial relationship with Russia.
That's why I committed to resetting the relationship between our two nations. And in President Medvedev, I've found a solid and reliable partner. We listen to one another, and we speak candidly.
So, Mr. President, I am very grateful for your leadership and your partnership.
By any measure, we have made significant progress and achieved concrete results. Together, we negotiated and signed the historic New START Treaty, committing our nations to significant reductions in deployed nuclear weapons. Today, we reaffirmed our commitment to work to ratify this treaty as soon as possible so it can enter into force and set the stage for further cuts and cooperation.
Together, we've strengthened the global nonproliferation regime, so that as we meet our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, other nations meet theirs and are held accountable if they don't.
Along with our international partners, we passed and are enforcing new U.N. sanctions against North Korea. We offered Iran the prospect of a better future, and when they refused, we joined with Russia and our partners on the Security Council to impose the toughest sanctions ever faced by the government of Iran.
Together, our nations have deepened our cooperation against violent extremism, as terrorists threaten both our people, be it in Times Square or in Moscow. And today, we've agreed to expand our cooperation on intelligence and counter terrorism.
Russian transit routes now play a vital role in supplying American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. And to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons, we came together at our nuclear security summit, where our two nations made numerous commitments, including agreeing to eliminate enough plutonium for about 17,000nuclear weapons.
Together, we've coordinated our efforts to strengthen the global economic recovery through the G-20, work that we will continue in Toronto this weekend.
And today we agreed to continue closely to coordinate our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts following the tragic outbreak of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan. Our two countries continue to disagree on certain issues, such as Georgia, and we addressed those differences candidly. But by moving forward in areas where we do agree, we have succeeded in resetting our relationship, which benefits regional and global security.
This includes, I would note, a change in the attitudes among the Russian people, who today have a far more favorable view of the United States, and that in turn creates more space for additional partnership.
Indeed, this has been the real focus of our work today and of President Medvedev's visit, not simply resetting our relationship, but also broadening it, because 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. It has to be about our shared prosperity and what we can build together.
That's why we created the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission during my visit to Moscow last year to forge new partnerships, not just between governments, but between our businesses, our peoples, and our societies. And today, we agreed to forge new cooperation across a whole range of areas.
In particular, we're expanding trade and commerce. We agreed to deepen our collaboration on energy efficiency and clean-energy technologies. And this afternoon, President Medvedev and I will join American and Russian business leaders as they move forward with a series of major trade and investment deals that will create jobs for Americans and Russians across many sectors, from aerospace and automotive engineering to the financial sector and high technology.
Consistent with my administration's national export initiative, this includes the sale of 50 Boeing aircraft worth $4 billion that could add up to 44,000 new jobs in the American aerospace industry.
To deepen Russia's integration into the global economy, I reaffirmed our strong commitment to Russia's ascension to the World Trade Organization. Today, we've reached an agreement that will allow the United States to begin exporting our poultry products to Russia once again.
And I want to thank President Medvedev and his team for resolving this issue, which is of such importance to American business and which sends an important signal about Russia's seriousness about achieving membership in the WTO.
Therefore, I told President Medvedev that our teams should accelerate their efforts to work together to complete this process in the very near future. Russia belongs in the WTO. That's good for Russia, it's good for America, and it's good for the world economy.
I appreciated very much the opportunity to hear President Medvedev's vision for modernization in Russia, especially high-tech innovation as a personal passion of the president. And during his visit to Silicon Valley this week, he visited the headquarter of Twitters (sic), where he opened his own account. I have one, as well, so we may be able to finally throw away those red phones that have been sitting around for so long.
(LAUGHTER)
American companies and universities were among the first to invest in President Medvedev's initiative to create a Russian Silicon Valley outside Moscow, and more are announcing new investments today.
Mr. President, the United States will be your partner as you promote the transparency and accountability and rule of law that's needed to infuse the spirit of innovation throughout your economy.
We're deepening partnerships between our societies. As they did during our -- our meeting in Moscow, leaders from civil society groups, Russian and American, are meeting here in Washington to explore new ways to cooperate in education and health, human rights, and combating corruption. And in the spirit of President Medvedev's visit, they're placing a special focus on how new technologies can improve their work.
Finally, I would simply add that the new partnership between our people spans the spectrum from space to science to sports. I think, President, you're aware that recently I welcomed to the White House a group of young Russian basketball players, both boys and girls, who were visiting the United States. We went on the White House basketball court, and I have to admit, some of them out-shot me.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: They represented the hope for the future that brings our countries together. Those were the same hopes of another generation of Americans and Russians, the generation that stood together as allies in the Second World War, the great patriotic war in which the Russian people suffered and sacrificed so much.
We recently marked the 65th anniversary of our shared victory in that war, including that historic moment when American and Soviet troops came together in friendship at the Elbe River in Germany.
A reporter who was there at that time, all those years ago, said, "If there is a fine, splendid world in the future, it will largely be because the United States and Russia get on well together. If it is in trouble, it will be because they don't get on well. It's as simple as that."
Mr. President, the decades that followed saw many troubles, too many troubles. But 65 years later, it's still as simple as that. Our countries are more secure and the world is safer when the United States and Russia get on well together.
So I thank you for your partnership and your commitment to the future that we can build together for this and for future generations.
With that, let me introduce President Medvedev.
DIMTRY MEDVEDEV, PRESIDENT, RUSSIA: Thank you, Mr. President. (through translator): Distinguished colleagues, of course I must start with thanking my counterpart, President Barack Obama, for your invitation to visit the United States of America with a visit and for the exceptional hospitality and generosity we have observed here. The weather is so warm that it leaves no doubt that everything is the result of hard work for -- in terms of preparation of the visit. Our delegation appreciated the hospitality.
And in Moscow, we met various places. And today, I have managed to dine with President Barack Obama, an interesting place, which is typically American. Probably it's not quite healthy, but it's very tasty, and you feel -- you can feel the spirit of America. But this is not the main thing we were engaged in.
Our delegation, the Russian delegation, had a very busy schedule, and -- which started in California, which is an unparalleled event besides the fact that it is a very beautiful place on the coast of the United States. It's a token (ph) place, and I hope this is a symbolic launch of cooperation between our countries in the sphere of innovation and high-tech.
We spoke about -- we have spoken about it today with President and before, saying that we have done a lot to build confidence between our countries. We have made steps aimed at establishing a more firm construction of our relations, structure of our relations, and to a certain extent, we made our world safer, I must say this.
But this is not enough for bilateral economic ties to change. And this visit is generally mostly aimed at achieving these goals. We are ready for that now; our American partners are ready for the same thing.
President and I agreed to work in this sphere, and today the main part of our talks was with regards to economic issues and, first of all, the very complicated issues such as membership in WTO.
Mr. President has just said that we have reached progress and made headway, but we will later discuss it probably. I am sure that such cooperation as cooperation in high-tech sphere can be mutually beneficial, including in this framework of those new projects created in -- in Russia.
We are establishing our continuation, so to say, of the Silicon Valley not far from Moscow, which is the Skolkovo Center, and we hope that our American partners will actively partake in this project, and we'll have some good groundwork for that in my yesterday's talk in the Silicon Valley and the forum that was held in St. Petersburg, the economic forum. The decisions of major companies to come to Russia with such investment, all this inspires us and shows that we can agree not only on missiles or at some important and complicated issues of an international agenda.
I count on the fact that in Russia we'll soon have this relevant business in place. Yesterday, we had an interesting event in my life. I visited the Stanford University, which is a well-known university with special climate, and I was enjoying walking and strolling around Stanford without necktie or any suit, in jeans, which was a pleasure for those people who occupy high posts.
I also spoke with students, professors, and tutors, and the faculty was an open, frank, and candid communication. And I felt their interest in strengthening our good relations and address creating new high-tech projects in the Russian Federation and the United States.
As far as the talks of today are concerned, Mr. President has said in detail about everything. I have practically nothing to add.
We went through all the issues and the items of agenda. We're interested in removing the obstacles accumulated over the previous period in -- in this area of bilateral trade and investment.
Russia has been actively participating in national labor division. And after the Washington summit is over, we will fly, well, by different planes -- we'll fly to Canada, where we will address the issue of promoting our common -- common view and common goals and discussing the global financial agenda.
And on our mutual understanding, a lot depends on the format ofG- 20 including. Today we have spoken about our economies' responses to the effects of the crisis. So we believe that much is done, but --but a lot has been -- has to be done.
President told me about many innovations and novelties he's trying to push through the Congress to make U.S. economy more stable. I briefed him on our crisis exit measures. I believe it was a helpful exchange of opinions, and I hope that in a cooperative way we will together discuss the issues of restoring the global finance and establishing the new financial order during the G-20 meeting.
There are some things that should be substantially changed. I mean, the investment climate, we should provide a stimulus to our businessmen to be more attentive and thoughtful towards each other to invest funds in each other's economies, and this is why, after the press conference, we're going to meet our business communities of our countries, and we will talk our future steps so that the level of economic investment cooperation is in line with the potential of the U.S. and the Russian economies.
Over the last period of time, we established -- we created a number of useful tools. One of them is a presidential commission that has been mentioned by Mr. Obama. On the one hand, it's a common instrument, but on the other hand, it's a mechanism that provides of effective interaction, which is in line with the current spirit and level of our friendly (ph) partnership relations that -- and also my relations between Mr. Obama and me. So I hope all the colleagues that are present here and that are members of the commission will actively work to implement the plans that we have.
So we went through the national agenda. And today, we devoted less time to it, because in our previous meetings, when we devoted a lot, it -- still have managed to do something. We spoke the Middle East crisis and the resolution on Iran, the Korean Peninsula developments, the Kyrgyzstan developments, and some other most complicated issues that are currently on our planet.
We also spoke about European security. We believe that - we share a common view that Europe should have this security system. We have some differences. And Mr. President mentioned it, in terms of, for example, the aftereffects of the conflict that was initiated by Georgia's leadership (ph) in 2008, but these differences did not prevent us from discussing future and launching new mechanisms of contact.
We discussed the situation around the new START treaty. Our goal, the goal of the two presidents, is to ensure tranquilratification of the treaty by our parliament. I hope it's going to be done in the near future.
For example, in the statement of the Federation Council, thee are hearings in place. There are hearings on -- and in - in Congress, there are hearings, as far as I know, as well as in Senate. So these active discussions should reveal the truth and synchronize the process of ratification.
We keep thinking about our next future steps, and this is a serious responsibility of the Russian Federation and the United States, would not lift this responsibility or shirk it. We will keep in touch, and I'm also always ready to discuss various issues with my colleague and my counterpart, and we succeed in -- in these discussions.
Last time, President and I spoke over the phone, it was a record, my record of phone conversation. Probably Obama has some longer records. It lasted 1 hour 45 minutes, which is a lot, I may say frankly, and the ear starts getting stiff.
But the result -- I will not brief you on the -- on the nuances, on the topics we discussed. We were both interested and submerged into the topic, not only our aides, our ministers should be that responsible, but we, too.
So I'm thankful to my counterpart for -- for his -- his active cooperation and for a warm welcome here in Washington. Thank you so much.
OBAMA: OK. We're going to -- we're going to take some questions. We will start with Carol Lee of Politico.
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Does the change in command in Afghanistan change your timetable for withdrawal? Is there likely to be any disruption, particularly given Secretary Gates seemed to contradict Vice President Biden's comments that you can bet on a large number of troops withdrawing in July of 2011? So are you confident that everyone on your team is on the same page when it comes to your plan? Do you expect anyone else to leave?
And if I may, too, President Medvedev, given your country's history and experience in Afghanistan, and your ability to talk candidly with President Obama, have you offered him any advice on the Afghan war? And do you believe that a foreign country can win in Afghanistan?
Thank you.
OBAMA: The short answer is that what we saw yesterday was a change in personnel, but not a change in policy. Let me flesh that out.
When we engaged in an extensive review last year, General Petraeus was part of a group that included Secretaries Gates, Clinton, my national security team, that discussed extensively what our various options were in Afghanistan.
And what was determined was, number one, that we had to be very clear on our mission. Our mission, first and foremost, is to dismantle and destroy Al Qaeda and its affiliates so that they can't attack the United States. The reason we're there in the first place is because 3,000 Americans were killed from an attack launched in that region. We are not going to have that repeated.
In order to achieve that, we have to make sure that we have a stable Afghan government, and we also have to make sure that we've got a Pakistani government that is working effectively with us to dismantle these networks.
What we then said was we would put in additional troops to provide the time and the space for the Afghan government to build up its security capacities, to clear and hold population centers that are critical, to drive back the Taliban, to break their momentum, and that beginning next year, we would begin a transition phase in which the Afghan government is taking more and more responsibility for its own security.
Here's what we did not say last year. We did not say that, starting July 2011, suddenly there would be no troops from the United States or allied countries in Afghanistan. We didn't say we'd be switching off the lights and closing the door behind us. We said that we'd begin a transition phase in which the Afghan government is taking on more and more responsibility.
That is the tragedy that was put forward. What we've also said is, is that, in December of this year, a year after this strategy has been put in place, at a time when the additional troops have been in place and have begun implementing strategy, that we'll conduct a review and we'll make an assessment.
Is the strategy working? Is it working in part, or are there other aspects of it that aren't working? How's the coordination between civilian and military? Are we doing enough to build Afghan security capacity? How are we working effectively with our allies?
OBAMA: So we are in the midpoint of implementing the strategy that we came up with last year. We'll do a review at the end of this year.
General Petraeus understands that strategy because he helped shape it. And my expectation is that he will be outstanding in implementing it, and we will not miss a beat because of the change in command in the Afghan theater.
Keep in mind that, during this entire time, General Petraeus has been the CENTCOM commander, which means he's had responsibility in part for overseeing what happened in Afghanistan, and -- and that is part of the reason why I think he's going to do such a capable job.
Not only does he have extraordinary experience in Iraq, not only did he help write the manual for dealing with insurgencies, but he also is intimately familiar with the players. He knows President Karzai. He knows the other personnel who are already on the ground.
So our team is going to be moving forward in sync. It is true that I am going to be insisting on a unity of purpose on the part of all branches of the U.S. government that reflects the enormous sacrifices that are being made by the young men and women who are there.
I mean, every time I go to Walter Reed, when I visit Afghanistan and I visit the hospitals, and you see young men and women who are giving their all, making enormous sacrifices on behalf of the security of this nation, my expectation is, is that the leadership is true to those sacrifices, that the strategy that we're promoting, the manner in which we are working together at the leadership level fully respect-- fully reflects and honors the incredible dedication of our young men and women on the ground.
That's what I expect, and I believe that is what I will receive. Was there one last aspect to the question?
QUESTION: Does anyone else need to -- to go in the chain of command?
OBAMA: I am confident that we've got a team in place that can execute. And -- now, I'm paying very close attention to make sure that they execute. And I will be insisting on extraordinary performance moving forward.
One last thing I just want to remind everybody, though, that the issues with General McChrystal that culminated in my decision yesterday were not as a -- as a result of a difference in policy. I want to be very clear about that. He was executing the policy that I had laid out, that he was executing the orders that I had issued, and that were reflective of the review process that took place last year.
MEDVEDEV (through translator): I'll try to be even briefer than my colleague, Mr. President.
You know, I hope that I have quite friendly relations with President Obama, but I try not to give pieces of advice that cannot be fulfilled. This is a hard topic, a difficult one. I can say only two things.
First of all, we believe that, at present, the United States and s me other countries are assisting the Afghan people in obtaining the much-wanted statehood and restore the basis of the functioning of an effective state, restore the civil society and the economy. And in these terms, we will support and back the efforts of the U.S.
As far as our own experience, well-known experience as concerned, I'd very much like to see the Afghan people in near future having an effective state and a modern economy, and -- which requires toiling and more than a year, but this is the path to guarantee that the --the most -- the gravest scenarios of the -- of the last time will not repeat.
Please, Itar Tuss (ph)?
QUESTION (through translator): Good day (inaudible) my question to president of the United States, who just mentioned that you discussed the issue of Russia joining the WTO during your talks. But I must admit that and state that the promises to facilitate Russia's entry has been heard by Russian delegation for decade. Could you more specifically name the timeframe when you are referring to finalizing the process in near future?
And a question to Medvedev. Yesterday, you visited the Silicon Valley. How did your perceptions on future cooperation between Russia and the U.S. in high-tech sphere change? And what indicators should be reached so that you can call the cooperation a successful one? Thank you.
OBAMA: On the WTO, first of all, I emphasized to President Medvedev, I emphasized to his entire delegation, and I now want to emphasize to the Russian people: We think it is not only in the interests of the Russian Federation, but in the interest of the United States and in the interest of the world that Russia joins the WTO. So this is something that we want to get resolved.
In terms of timeframe, let me give you a sense of perspective from our U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk, who has been in close contact and negotiations with his counterparts on the Russian side. The way he described it is that 90 percent, 95 percent of the issues have now been resolved.
Now, the remaining 5 percent to 10 percent are difficult issues and are going to require some significant work. But that should give you some sense that a lot of work has already been done, even in the last few months, that makes an enormous difference.
Now, in our joint statement, what we are going to essentially instruct our negotiators is that they try to come to terms with the technical issues that remain by the fall. We are going to keep putting pressure on negotiators in the same way that we did during the START treaty, so that these -- there's a sense of urgency on the part of our team.
A lot of the technical issues, the resolution of those technical issues, though, may be in the hands of the Russian government. We've already made progress on some issues like encryption, for example. There may be certain international standards that require modifications in Russian law.
So as much as possible, what I've told my team is, we are going to do everything we can to get this done as quickly as possible, and we will be very specific and very clear about the technical issues that Russia still faces, and Russia then will act in accordance with its needs and requirements internally to meet the demands of the WTO in order to get this done.
But I'm confident that we can get this completed. And I am confident that President Medvedev and his vision for an innovative, modernized, energized economy are entirely consistent with Russia's joining the WTO.
And I also just want to just say this. You know, sometimes it's odd when you're sitting in historic meetings with your Russian counterpart to spend time talking about chicken, but our ability to get resolved a trade dispute around poultry that is a multibillion- dollar export for the United States was, I think, an indication of the seriousness with which President Medvedev and his team take all of these trade and commercial issues.
And I very much appreciate the steady and consistent manner in which the president has approached these issues. That's part of what gives me confidence that we're going to get this done and that this will just be one aspect of a broader strengthening of commercial ties, cross-border investment, and expanded opportunities and job creation, both in the Russian Federation and in the United States.
MEDVEDEV (through translator): I will say a couple of words about the WTO, because it's important for our country. First of all, we coordinated -- we have coordinated a common approach today, which says that substantive issues almost off, almost no left.
So moved along all the lines, starting from encryption and intellectual property and ending with state bodies (ph) and other things like synchronous character of changing of the Russian legislation, as in the process of joining the WTO. There are some remaining technical, minor problems, and our teams have been instructed to work as fast as possible, and we hope and we have stated this, that the work will be finalized by the end of September this year.
I'm quite happy that we have set the timeframe not to lose all the positive momentum about (inaudible) and not to dilute the talks about WTO in the -- in the issues of chicken meat or swine trimming, why (ph) a different situation today.
As far as cooperation in the Silicon Valley is concerned, while yesterday paid heed that everyone wishes to call the Silicon Valley the Kremlin Valley (ph) in Russia, probably for English, there is no difference, but in Russia, there is.
So in the Kremlin Valley (ph), it was very interesting, the visit timing (ph), and I looked at the activities of major companies that will, as I hope, become our close partners for modernization and technological advancement of our economies, like -- those like Cisco.
And yesterday we inked a memorandum on investment and some projects to the tune of great sums, and also I watched the activities of small companies situated in the Silicon Valley which set an example of being efficient and effective in risk (ph) of high-tech business.
It's very good that our companies settle in the Silicon Valley. Yesterday, I browsed through search engine Yandex, which is our number-one search engine, and while their major systems for such information in the world, so we should -- we should learn how to work and we should not swagger, saying that we are clever enough.
We have something to learn in terms of organizing business, and this is prompted by my talk with the representatives of Russian business communities that move to the United States or are here on a temporary basis. All of them are wishing to work with Russian investors. Many of them want to come back to Russia. But they do have precious experience as the Silicon Valley and what is done there.
And it's first and foremost people, their minds and their ability and skills, and only after money and an infrastructure.
So we will carefully study the experience of the Silicon Valley. And without replicating, we will use the best practices and samples that exist in California in the framework of that major product that is called the Silicon Valley.
OBAMA: Elster Boll (ph)?
QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'd like to ask about the G-20, since you're both heading to the summit. On China, you've already welcomed its decision on the yuan. Are you satisfied with how far the currency has moved since that news? How will this influence your judgment on whether China is a currency manipulator? And when will you release your report to Congress on this matter?
OBAMA: OK. The -- I think that China made progress by making its announcement that it's going to be returning to its phased-in ,market-based approach to the RMB.
The initial signs were positive, but it's too early to tell whether the appreciation that will track the market is sufficient to allow for the re balancing that we think is appropriate.
I'm going to leave it up to Secretary Tim Geithner to make a determination as to the pace. He's the expert when it comes to examining the currency markets. I will say that we did not expect a complete 20 percent appreciation overnight, for example, simply because that would be extremely disruptive to world currency markets and to the Chinese economy. And ultimately, not surprisingly, China's got to make these decisions based on its sovereignty and its - its economic platform.
But we have said consistently that we believe that the RMB is undervalued, that that provides China with an unfair trade advantage, and that we expect change. The fact that they have said they are beginning that process is positive, and so we will continue to monitor and verify how rapidly these changes are taking place.
And I think that we will be able to track a trajectory. And if that trajectory indicates that, over the course of the year, the RMB is appreciated a certain amount, that it is more in line with economic fundamentals, then I -- hopefully not only will that be good for the U.S. economy, that will also be good for the Chinese economy and the world economy.
More broadly, just to -- to widen out the challenges that the world economy faces, we said in Pittsburgh in the G-20 that it was important for us to rebalance. In part because the U.S. economy for along period of time was the engine of world economic growth, we were sucking in imports from all across the world financed by huge amounts of consumer debt.
Because of the financial crisis, but also because that debt was fundamentally unsustainable, the United States is not going to be able to serve in that same capacity to that same extent.
We are obviously still a huge part of the world economy. We are still going to be open. We are still going to be importing, as well as exporting.
But the economic realities are such that for us to see sustained global economic growth, all countries are going to have to be moving in some new directions. That was acknowledged in Pittsburgh.
That means that surplus countries are going to have to think about, how are we spurring domestic demand? That means that emerging countries are going to have to think, are we only oriented towards exports, or are we also starting to produce manufacturing goods and services for the internal market?
It means that deficit countries have to start getting serious about their mid-term and long-term debt and deficits, and that includes the United States of America, which is why I've got a fiscal commission that's going to be reporting to me by the end of the year.
So the point is, not every country is going to respond exactly the same way, but all of us are going to have responsibilities to rebalance in ways that allow for long-term, sustained economic grow thin which all countries are participating and hopefully the citizens of all these countries are benefiting.
All right?
QUESTION (through translator): (inaudible) newspaper. We have a question for both presidents. You said that you discussed the situation in Kyrgyzstan. Do you share your -- the view on the problem? And what are joint ways of solving it? It's known that Russian (inaudible) have military bases in the republic, so do you consider (inaudible) involve a military contingent (inaudible) in --in Kyrgyzstan keeps deteriorating?
MEDVEDEV (through translator): Yes, we have discussed this issue as the situation in the republic is difficult at present. The state is not operating as it should, while the country de facto is split into parts and civil unrest and clashes continue on ethnic grounds. Very many people have perished, and the authorities have been incapable of preventing what has happened. So we are interested, both Russia and the States, in the - in the state's ability in Kyrgyzstan to be able to resolve such issues, to -- and look at all the civil rights are observed, and the tasks of ensuring food supplies and basic material -- material facilities are ensured.
Russia is working with the temporary caretaker leadership of Kyrgyzstan. We believe that they should prove their legitimate character nature, but we consider Kyrgyzstan to be a strategic partner. We will help them, both in terms of money and humanitarian aid.
We hope that, during the election process, a full-fledged government will be shaped, able to solve and rest the issues that face the -- this state. Otherwise, Kyrgyzstan will degrade and will - and will break up into parts.
All of us share a concern that, under these circumstances, radical elements may rise to power in that country. And in this case, we will have to address the issues that are addressed by us and other regions. I am -- I am referring to the goals that we have in Afghanistan.
We discussed this issue. And if we are talking about an - a possibility of some enforcing order, well, I believe that Kyrgyzstan should on its own cope with these problems. Russian -- the Russian Federation does not plan any deployment of a military -- of a peaceful contingent (ph).
And I got a letter from the acting president of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, but there is the consultations mechanism in the CSTO format. Head of Security Council met to discuss the -- the issue of security and of deploying a peacekeepers contingent. So far, there is no need, they have decided, but these things may start developing by different scenarios, so CSTO will respond. And me being a chair, the chairman of the organization, any time can convene a meeting of relevant bodies, and we hope that the United States do -- does have an understanding.
OBAMA: The only thing I would add is, obviously, we're monitoring the situation very carefully. There already has been excellent coordination between the United States and the Russian Federation on delivery of humanitarian aid.
One of the things that we discussed is creating a mechanism so that the international community can ensure that we have a peaceful resolution of the situation there and that any actions that are takent to protect civilians are done so not under the flag of any particular country, but that the international community is stepping in.
And so our teams will be in continuing discussions in the weeks ahead as we monitor the situation as it unfolds.
All right? Thank you very much, everybody. HOLMES: All right. We've been listening in to the president of the United States and also the president of Russia, Medvedev, the two men talking mainly about the relationship the economic relationship between the two countries and the importance of it moving forward.
President Medvedev, in this neck of the woods, if you will, because he's going to be attending the G-8 and G-20 summits happening in Toronto in Canada over the weekend, but having to stopping by to speak with President Obama today. Also, speaking of news out of Toronto, out of canada for the G-8 and G-20, we're just getting word about a car. Now, a man is in custody, but he had a car that was apparently filled with all kinds of stuff that you don't want near the G-20 site when you have all these world leaders about to collect there for the weekend.
Police there are telling us that, in fact, this car had pellet guns, gas tanks, a cross bow, and other chemical products in the vehicle. When the man was pulled over -- and this is video we can share with you now, but it gives you kind a close-up, an idea of how just much stuff was in this man's vehicle. But this was near the G-20 site.
For whatever reason, something suspicious and an officer there decided to pull over this man who had all the stuff in the car and he couldn't give a good reason for why all of it was in there. But just take a look here. Again, this is the first we've been able to take a look at these pictures, but he had all of this stuff in the car. Again, police there telling us, investigators, he couldn't give a good reason for why all of that stuff was in his vehicle. He has been taken into custody.
Don't have an idea of what the charges may be. Here, other new video we're just getting in, showing you the vehicle. And again, you have a number of world leaders, not just the heads of state, but they have so deputies and others that will be accompanying them to this G- 8, G-20 Summit happening up in Toronto, but you have a number of people up there, important folks, it's always a security nightmare. You always see often times protests and other things that break out around these summits, but this certainly calls for alarm.
Our Jeanne Meserve following this story for us. Jeanne, what else can you tell us here? We're just now seeing some of these pictures. It's pretty remarkable what this man had in his vehicle.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECRUITY CORRESPONDENT: Well T.J. it's really unclear at this point whether this man posed any kind of threat at all to the summit. Let me show you this car behind me.
You can see that it has this makeshift car carrier on the top. It looks like it's homemade. It's attached to the car only with ropes. Police here, of course, are on very high alert because of the summits. They pulled the car over to investigate. Police tell me when they did, they could see the gas cans inside the car. They asked the man for an explanation.
He was unable to give them one that satisfied them, so they investigated further. They opened up that car-top carrier, they looked in the car, they founded the loaded cross bow, they found pellet guns, they also found a lot of other things, I should add, suitcases, we cans see it looks like there are blankets in the back, it looks like there were plastic bags which may be full of the man's possessions.
He's 53 years old. We don't have his identity yet. They have taken him off to be questioned. They've also have taken off a dog who was also in the car with him to make sure the animal's taken care of. But it's unclear, really unclear at this point in time exactly what was going on here.
Hazmat teams are taking a closer look at those gas cans and what's inside to try to determine if it poses any kind of a threat. But you can see here that the cordoned off area is not tremendously big. They are letting us quite close to this vehicle at this point in time. And let me explain all the loud noise. Those are the demonstrators. There have been demonstrations through this city today and there's a small labor one going on here. So that's all the noise. Back to you.
HOLMES: And again, Jeanne, we have no idea why this stuff might have been in the car, but explain to people or remind them just what kind of a security nightmare an event like this is, to have all these heads of state collected in one place. And quite frankly, the police will always be on edge with anything that raises suspicion.
MESERVE: You're breaking up on me just a little bit, but I believe you asked me to give you the big security picture. This is a phenomenal security operation here. About 20,000 police, security guards, and military involved in securing these economic summits.
A lot of fencing has gone up downtown. There are new cameras that have been put up here. Some of the police officers here, they're roving through the streets on bicycles and on foot. All through the city, to act as a deterrent to try and prevent any violent demonstrations from breaking out.
A lot of peaceful demonstrations, though. We were with some indigenous people that marched through a lot of downtown today. They were flanked by police the whole time they marched. There were absolutely no incidents that we were aware of. Things have been very peaceful so far, but they're very much on the lookout here, hoping that this heavy police presence will serve as a deterrent. Back to you.
HOLMES: All right. And I'm going to take a chance that you can't hear me. You said I was breaking up a little bit, but hopefully you can hear me now. We're talking about this one incident with this man now. Have there been others so far associated with this particular summit? You talk about the protests. We expected to see those, but anything else that we've seen?
MESERVE: Yes, we did see one other person taken into court yesterday. It was a man who, according to police, had some weapons, had some explosives. They have very strict privacy laws here in Canada. We don't know a lot about the incident yet. We may learn more as time goes on. Back to you.
HOLMES: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us on the scene. We thank you so much. Again the update there from our Jeanne Meserve, telling us that, in fact, we don't know this man's intent. We do not know a motive. We don't know why he might have had all this stuff in his vehicle.
It might have been, quite frankly, something without a nefarious intent, but for police there who are getting set for the G-8 and the G-20 summit in Toronto, this is a collection of the heads of state and some of the biggest super powers in this country all collecting there over the weekend and it's always a security nightmare and they're not taking any chances.
Again, the man is 53 years old, we don't know his name just yet, but according to investigator there is, he at least did not give them a sufficient enough reason or excuse for why he would have all this stuff in his vehicle.
Chemicals, a crossbow, you saw chains there, you saw all kinds of other things sitting out on the street. Had gasoline canisters as well. Certainly calls for alarm. We will continue to monitor that story, but for now, man in custody, don't know why he had that stuff, but right now police are checking it out. That's it for me today, T.J. Holmes sitting in of Ali Velshi time for me to hand it over to RICK'S LIST.
