ACCESSION NUMBER:350486 FILE ID:EUR510 DATE:06/24/94 TITLE:THE GORE-CHERNOMYRDIN COMMISSION (06/24/94) TEXT:*94062407.PFE *EUR510 06/24/94 THE GORE-CHERNOMYRDIN COMMISSION (Text: White House statement) (640) (The following statement from the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation, titled "The Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission," was released June 23 by The White House Office of the Vice President.) The third meeting of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation was held June 22-23 in Washington. The Commission is co-chaired by U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. The Commission provides a framework for promoting a partnership between the United States and Russia based on the principles enumerated in the Vancouver and Moscow Summit declarations. These include a shared commitment to: democracy and human rights; a market economy and the rule of law; and international peace and stability. The Commission's work is an effort to realize concrete benefits from this partnership. The decision to create the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission was taken by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin at the Vancouver Summit in June 1993. The Commission's original mandate was to support cooperation in the areas of space, energy, and high technology. Since then, the Commission has expanded its scope to include other areas of U.S.-Russian cooperation, such as business development, defense conversion and the environment. Its six working Committees are chaired at the cabinet level. A list of American members is attached. The site of Commission sessions alternates between Russia and the United States. The inaugural session occurred in Washington, D.C., in August 1993. The second session took place in Moscow in December 1993. This third Commission session has registered major progress in all areas of the Commission's work. These achievements include: -- Space: signing of the $400 million contract for the joint Shuttle-Mir program; -- Business Development: signing of the $10-12 billion Sakhalin II project, which represents the first development of a new Russian energy field involving foreign direct investment; -- Energy: intergovernmental agreement requiring a shutdown of plutonium production reactors and the cessation of use of plutonium for nuclear weapons; -- Defense Conversion: announcement of the first awards to U.S. firms to establish joint ventures with Russian defense firms converting to civilian production, and incorporation of a Defense Conversion Enterprise Fund; -- Science and Technology: conclusion of Memoranda of Understanding on a bilateral science and technology program; and -- Environment: signing of a bilateral environmental agreement. 1ommission meetings have also offered Russian and American participants an opportunity to travel outside of their respective capitals to meet business leaders and visit plants and technical facilities. During this visit Prime Minister Chernomyrdin will travel Detroit for meetings with Michigan business executives and a tour of General Motors auto production facilities. U.S. MEMBERS OF THE GORE-CHERNOMYRDIN COMMISSION The Vice President -- Co-Chairman of Commission Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown -- Vice Chairman of Commission & Chair of Business Development Committee Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary -- Chair of Energy Policy Committee OSTP Director Dr. Jack Gibbons -- Chair of Science and Technology Committee Secretary of Defense Bill Perry -- Chair of Defense Conversion Committee NASA Administrator Dan Goldin -- Chair of Space Committee EPA Administrator Carol Browner -- Chair of Environment Committee Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott Ambassador at Large for the New Independent States James Collins ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE U.S. CHAIRMAN U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor Director of Central Intelligence Agency James Woolsey Director, Office of Environmental Policy Katie McGinty AID Administrator Brian Atwood Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs Lawrence Summers Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs Lynn Davis Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ivan Selin National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator James Baker OPIC President and CEO Ruth Harkin EXIM Bank President and Chairman Ken Brodie Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to the New Independent States Tom Simons NNNN .