Medvedev eyes Silicon Valley for Russia's Skolkovo.

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,
who initiated the creation of a high-tech development center in the town
of Skolkovo near Moscow, hopes to develop it into a Russian Silicon Valley
with American assistance.
"I am convinced high-tech cooperation can be mutually beneficial also
in the framework of those projects that are being implemented in Russia,"
he told a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama on
Thursday and recalled the Skolkovo project.
Medvedev said his talks in the Silicon Valley were "inspiring". "I
felt the interest to strengthen our good relations and deal with new
high-tech projects in the Russian Federation and the United States."
"The Silicon Valley comprises, first and foremost, people, their
brains and ability to resolve problems. We shall attentively study
everything there and without exact copying will use the best practice that
exists in California in the framework of the big project called the
Silicon Valley," Medvedev said.

.Skolkovo, Massachusetts agree to cooperate.

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Itar-Tass) -- The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) agreed on Thursday to help Russia in the development of
its high-tech project in the Moscow suburb of Skolkovo, which President
Dmitry Medvedev wants to become a Russian Silicon Valley.
MIT and the Skolkovo Foundation signed a framework agreement on the
sidelines of Medvedev's visit to the United States.
MIT said it will "evaluate a participation in the creation of an
innovation city at Skolkovo as one of the project's partners."
"The Skolkovo project will create paths to bring technologies to
industry, launch high-tech start-ups, and facilitate the growth of the
regional innovation ecosystems," MIT said.
MIT said the agreement is a result of "an historic effort by the
President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, to modernize the national economy
and promote technological innovation."
Viktor Vekselberg, co-chairman of Skolkovo Foundation, said, "We are
tired of the brain drain that our country has suffered in recent years,
and we want to reverse this process at once. We are committed to engaging
the best individual and institutional partners in each area of Skolkovo
project. Our team has already been joined by the famous Craig Barrett, and
also by Nobel Prize laureates Zhores Alferov and Roger Kornberg. Now we
are starting to engage with MIT, a world leader in research and education,
as well as in technology commercialization."
Rafael Reif, MIT's Provost, commented, "We are interested in exploring
whether opportunities exist for MIT, in collaboration with scientists and
engineers in Russia, to conduct educational and research activities that
are consistent with MIT's mission and may contribute meaningfully to the
Russian government's strategic initiative and the Skolkovo Project."

.Medvedev to offer humanitarian initiatives at G8 summit.

TORONTO, June 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
offer humanitarian initiatives at the G8 summit in Canada, his foreign
policy aide Sergei Prikhodko said.
"A distinguished feature of the Russian position at the summit is an
initiative approach to social and humanitarian issues," he said adding
Russia has submitted several proposals on a wide range of problems from
health care to disaster aftermath elimination.
Prikhodko said in 2009 Russia provided aid for the development of
foreign countries worth 785 million dollars, which is a 3.5-fold increase
in four years.
Medvedev's economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich specified Russian
initiatives include coordination of activities of emergency and rescue
services in disaster aftermath elimination effort. He also said Medvedev
advanced the idea of creating an environmental insurance fund. Another
guideline is to radically reduce infant mortality. "In the past five years
Russia has achieved major progress in the sphere and is ready to offer a
mechanism of transferring the experience to other countries," he said.
Prikhodko said the summit should pay priority attention "to the search
for adequate solution of key problems of international peace and security,
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the fight against new
challenges and threats, first and foremost, against terrorism, drug
trafficking and organized crime, and the promotion of agreed approaches to
international development issues and protection of the environment."


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