United States President Barack Obama on Thursday praised his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, as a “solid” and “reliable” partner, but noted disagreements lingered on issues such as Georgia.
After talks at the White House, Mr. Obama said: “We listen to one another and we speak candidly.”
Mr. Obama told Mr. Medvedev that he would accelerate a dialogue on Moscow's entry into the World Trade Organisation, saying “Russia belongs in the WTO.
The two leaders met for Oval Office talks encompassing key diplomatic and security issues and were to hold a joint press conference, before taking part in a U.S.-Russia business summit in Washington.
Mr. Medvedev arrived in Washington fresh from a tour of Silicon Valley, which saw him brandish an iPad and courting Internet pioneers in a bid to showcase his effort to launch a technology revolution in Russia.
“I think that we believe that this visit takes place at a new phase in U.S.-Russia relations,” said Ben Rhodes, Director of Strategic Communications on the National Security Council.
“It comes after a period when we've made very substantial progress in resetting the U.S.-Russia relationship and making concrete progress on a number of very important and substantive areas.”
Mr. Obama took office vowing to recalibrate relations with the Kremlin, after a tense period in the latter years in the Bush administration, which included tensions over Russia's war with Georgia.
Administration officials say that “reset” — reciprocated by Mr. Medvedev — has resulted in important progress, for example with a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the START agreement and new U.N. nuclear sanctions on Iran.
Russia has also cooperated with Washington on supplying U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and now both sides want to move beyond “flashpoint” issues and seek new areas of cooperation, including in economics.
