Mr Putin talked with interim President of NYSE John Reed and with the leaders of the American business community. Taking part in the meeting were representatives of practically all the top US companies and banks, including the President of Conoco and the head of ExxonMobil.
During the talk with businessmen, President Putin said he was pleased that American business had come to believe in the opportunities and the advantages of the new Russian economy. He stressed that the rate of Russia’s economic growth was above the world average.
Five Russian companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and three of them are operating in the rapidly growing sphere of telecommunications and new technologies.
He is convinced that what matters in Russian-American cooperation is not so much the volume, as the new quality of cooperation. The growing Russian economy can enter the American market not only with metal, oil and other commodities, but with investments and technologies, the President stressed. He mentioned the Norilsk Nickel, LUKoil, NPO Energia and other companies.
There are some tasks – ranging from the strengthening of the world financial system to the development of new energy sources – in which Russia and the US have a shared interest, the Russian leader said. The political and economic potential of the two countries could create a stable basis for the global financial and economic order.
The Russian leader discussed energy and energy resources, a mutually beneficial area, noting that over the next five-seven years Russian oil supplies could amount to more than 10% of US oil imports. He believes it is a feasible task.
The President could not afford not to raise the issue of the Jackson-Vanik amendment and other discriminatory bans that harmed Russian-American relations. He said that joint work was far more beneficial and had a better future than all kinds of trade wars and outdated bans.
After making his speech, the President looked on as the representatives of the US Eximbank, the Russian Vneshekonombank and Roseximbank signed a tripartite cooperation agreement. The document is aimed at strengthening long-term business partnership between the parties to facilitate access of Russian and American goods and services to the markets of third countries.
After meeting with American businessmen, President Putin looked at the New York Stock Exchange trading floor and watched trading from a balcony.