Speaking from the U.S. embassy in Moscow, U.S. Ambassador John J. Sullivan joined Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov in D.C. as co-keynote speakers at a 2.5-hour business webinar, the “Texas-Urals Virtual Trade Mission and Business Dialogue.” Both men were enthusiastic about this first high-level event, linking specific regions, one-to-one, between Russia and the U.S. Other such events, sponsored by the U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Commercial Service are projected.
Ambassador Sullivan — a senior career diplomat, highly respected in the Russian Foreign Ministry — began by discussing the need for the two countries to catalyze a global recovery from the COVID pandemic by working together. He characterized as “a new strategy,” under his direction at the U.S. embassy, to separate business issues from political issues which are sources of conflict in their respective capitals. He reported on 1) a recent meeting he attended with Russia’s Minister of Trade and the heads of 15 U.S. companies, 2) a plan to bring a group of Russian companies involved in space science to Houston next year, and 3) the hope to organize many other, new, region-to-region Russian-American programs soon.
