Medvedev to visit Silicon Valley in Calif, then travel to Wash.

MOSCOW, June 22 (Itar-Tass) - President Dmitry Medvedev leaves for the
United States on Tuesday for a visit, at the close of which he will travel
to Canada to attend G-8 and G-20 summits. During his tour, which will
continue for almost a week, the Russian Head of State will visit the
American cities of San Francisco and Washington, as well as the Canadian
Huntsville and Toronto, presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko announced.
Medvedev will arrive in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday
afternoon. The President of the Russian Federation is to have a meeting
with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, after which both leaders
will be present at a ceremony marking the signing of a Memorandum on
Cooperation between the Renova Company and the Californian authorities.
This refers to a document which will make it possible to preserve in a
serviceable condition Fort Ross, the unique landmark of Russian
participation in the exploration of America. This former Russian
settlement and a wooden fortress, located 80 km north of San Francisco,
was founded by the Russo-American Company in 1812 for fur-trade.
Fort Ross, which was the southernmost Russian settlement in North
America, nowadays has become a historical part of the State of California.
However, it came to find itself on the verge of closure owing to the acute
economic crisis. The issue concerning the future of Fort Ross was raised
at a personal meeting between the Presidents of Russia and the US.
Following that, the White House brought the issue under its control and
assured Russia that Fort Ross would be preserved.
On Tuesday evening, Medvedev and Schwarzenegger together with their
wives will attend a dinner which is to be given on behalf of the
leadership of California. George Schultz, who was US Secretary of State in
the Ronald Reagan administration and was Secretary of the Treasury during
Richard Nixon presidency, will also take part in conversations between
Medvedev and Schwarzenegger. Schultz, 89, who is now among advisers to the
Governor of California and cooperates with Stanford University, will play
host to Medvedev and Schwarzenegger at his home.
On Wednesday, Medvedev will travel to the Silicon Valley, a California
district which comprises several towns that constitute the main center of
nano-scale technology thought and innovation development efforts both in
the US and the world. Over there the Russian President is to visit a
number of large companies. In particular, Medvedev will call on the
offices of Twitter, Cisco Systems, Apple, and Yandex Labs.
Over there, the Russian President will also meet with researchers from
Russia who are working with the resident companies of the Silicon Valley.
He is also scheduled to meet with members of the academic and business
communities of California at Stanford University.
At the close of those meetings, Medvedev will leave by air for
Washington. He is to arrive in the US capital late at night. The official
part of his visit to the US will begin on June 24. The Russian Head of
State is to hold talks with Barack Obama in the White House in a narrow
format at first with the participation of only aides and heads of
diplomatic missions. A number of government ministers will join the
leaders later on.
"Those will be full-format talks on a wide range of matters of current
importance concerning bilateral relations and main international
problems," Prikhodko said. "It is also planned that Medvedev and Obama
will be given a report by the coordinators of the Russo-American
presidential commission on the development of cooperation -- Russian
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, and US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton - on the work done within the framework of the
Commission's sixteen working groups," he said.
At the close of the talks, Barack Obama intends to invite Dmitry
Medvedev to one of Washington restaurants so as to carry on the
consultations at a dinner one-on-one.
The Presidents of the RF and the US will tell journalists at a press
conference about the results of their talks. The news conference is to
take place at the lawn outside the White House. The press service of the
US administration practises this quite often. Incidentally, weathermen
forecast a thunderstorm in Washington precisely for June 24. So, possibly,
a meeting with the press in the open air may prove problematic.
After the press conference Medvedev and Obama will head for the US
Chamber of Commerce where they will meet with business leaders.
"The President will be accompanied in the tour by a group of
executives of the leading Russian companies that develop business contacts
with American partners or are interested in establishing such contacts,"
Prikhodko said.
"On the sidelines of the summit, Russian companies, including the
Rostekhnologii State Corporation, KAMAZ, and the AVISMA Corporation, are
to reach mutually beneficial agreements with their American partners," the
presidential aide said.
After talks on the Capitol Hill, the Russian Head of State will leave
by air for Canada, where he will attend G-8 and G-20 summits from June 25
to 27.
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