17^th Anniversary Annual Meeting
Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP)
Bicentennial Pavilion, Hotel Murano
Tacoma, Washington

Greetings, I am pleased to welcome this forum and all its attendees back to Washington State and the great Pacific Northwest.

I would like to acknowledge a few of the esteemed dignitaries in the room: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov (Sir-gay Rib-kove); U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2008-2012 John Beyrle; Ambassador Extraordinaire Eduard Malayan (Ed-uard Mah-lie-YAN);

U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe,  Matthew Murray; and Dmitry Sazhin (Dim-EE-tree Sah-jin), Deputy Director, Department of the Americas, Ministry of Economic Development of Russia; Consul General Sylvia Curran; Consul General Andrey Yushmanov; and my counterpart with the state of Alaska, Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell.

Thanks to all of the regional delegations and attendees for taking part in the Russian American Pacific Partnership or RAPP process.  What we are doing at RAPP really matters.

Russia is an extremely important friend and trading partner with the State of Washington and it is growing steadily.

As a state official, I recognize the importance of our long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship with Russia broadly and with the Russian Far East in particular. I am encouraged by Washington state’s dramatic growth in exports over the past two years.  2012 could approach $500 million to be our largest export year to Russia ever.

We have many ongoing exchanges with Russia, both through our sister city relationships, within academia and the arts. Washington has a large Russian-speaking population.  The many Russian and former-Soviet heritage citizens of Washington State are active members of our communities and serve as a valuable human connection between our respective regions and countries.

But our histories connect us in other important ways.

Our two Pacific-facing shores are both pioneer regions. The history of our westward expansion reads very similar to Russia’s eastward expansion. Many of our key industries have been the same, from commercial fishing to timber and paper mills, mining, and even aircraft construction.  Over our long history of cooperation, Washington has pioneered some of the most important U.S.-Russian commercial and non-commercial partnerships. 

Marine Resources Company International, also known in Russia as SOVAM, was a highly successful U.S.-Soviet (later Russian) Seattle-based joint-venture company in fishing, seafood sales and vessel refit and supply before it quit doing business in 2000.

Even though the company no longer exists, the son of its founder Jim Talbot, Stowe Talbot, carries on his father’s tradition. Stowe owns a company to the north of us called Bellingham Cold Storage. Just about this time every year Bellingham Cold Storage loads up a large vessel filled with three to four thousand metric tons of Washington potatoes, apples, beets, frozen chicken and hot dogs and ships it to communities in the far northern and remote region of Chukotka (Choo-KOTE-Ka), which is directly across from Alaska. It is timed to arrive just before the ice sets in. 

Stowe Talbot is now organizing a major photo exhibition called Wild East Meets Wild West at the Whatcom Museum, featuring photographs by the Nakhodka (Na-hode-KA) photographer Georgy (Gi-OR-gee) Pakin (Paw-kin) over several decades of U.S.-Soviet fishing cooperation, when fishing vessels from Kamchatka (Kom-chiat-KA), Magadan (mah-gah-dahn), Sakhalin (Sa-kha-LEEN), and Primorye (pre-mor-Yeh) worked with American fisherman in U.S. waters and enjoyed port calls in Washington and Alaskan ports.

This will remind Lt. Governor Treadwell and the rest of us of the drama that played out this past January in the remote Alaskan village of Nome when a Russian tanker risked all and broke its way through the ice to supply the village with badly needed oil before their supplies ran out. 

Our history of maritime cooperation between our countries is extensive. In more recent years the aerospace industry has taken off too.

Whether during World War II or in space exploration, history has shown us that Russia and the United States can cooperate and achieve greater results working together than might be achieved working independently. 

One of my favorite Russian stories was the first transpolar airplane flight of the Soviet ANT-25 monoplane from Russia to the United States on June 20, 1937. The three Soviet flyers, pilot Valery Chkalov (chik-a-love), co-pilot Georgy Baidukov (Gee-or-gee Buy-da-kof), and navigator Alexander Belyakov (bel-YA-kof), set off from Moscow, flew over the north pole, then headed south over the Canadian Rockies and west. They faced heavy storms and blinding conditions along the way and didn’t even have a clear idea of where they were going or where they would land.

Unlike the earlier Charles Lindbergh transatlantic flight, their mission was cloaked in secrecy, but somehow word leaked out and the world was anxiously awaiting news. They knew they would have to come down somewhere between Seattle and Oakland, California, but around Eugene, Oregon they realized they were running low on fuel and turned north. They tried to land in Portland, but spotted a big crowd waiting for them below and were worried their aircraft would be torn apart by a souvenir-hungry mob.
 

So they flew over the Columbia River to Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington, where they were greeted by none other than General George C. Marshall, who later become the U.S. Secretary of State. And it was a good thing those three flyers landed - the ANT-25 after logging more than 63 hours and having covered 5,288 miles had just 11 gallons of fuel left.

This year marks the 75^th anniversary of that flight. That flight was amazing, and today it stands as a symbol of Russia’s great pioneers. Our histories are remarkably similar as two great frontier nations.  I am struck by what amazing good can be accomplished if we work together.  And thankfully we are.

Boeing has extensive work with Russia in engineering, aircraft sales and parts supply as well as sourcing of titanium and machined components.  Boeing Commercial, in fact, employs about 1,200 contract workers at its Boeing Design Center in Russia as part of the company’s global work force. These engineers have made great design contributions on such aircraft as the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8 Freighter and Intercontinental.  

Boeing has even consulted Sukhoi (Sue-Hoy) in the Russian Far East at KNAAPO (Ka-Na-Po) in Komsomolsk-Na-Amure.  Microsoft also has a large presence in Russia, basing a large regional sales office there.  Many talented Russian software developers work here, and of course both Google co-founder Sergei (seer-gay) Brin and PayPal founder Max Levchin (lev-chin) are Russian. We are not really so different and have a great deal to offer each other working together. Many of the presentations you will hear this afternoon will further illustrate the great potential of U.S.-Russian partnerships.

Here are some things that I see as working in favor of more U.S.-Russian cooperation over the near-term.

Last month, Russia completed its membership in the World Trade Organization. This is not only good for U.S. commerce with Russia, but is good for Russian consumers, and ultimately for Russian companies to compete more effectively. Being a member of the WTO means enormous new opportunities for trade with Russia and the United States and, we believe, especially for the state of Washington.

Of course there is a catch. Congress must act, and let’s hope that it does soon, on enacting Permanent Normal Trade Relations, or PNTR, with Russia.

The Business Roundtable, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of top businesses, has made approval of PNTR its top trade priority and has even documented what passage of the PNTR would mean for the state of Washington.

Failure to pass PNTR would mean stiffer competition from other global markets in a number of key industries important to our state, including aerospace products, automobile exports, and frozen fish. We do not wish to sink our stake in opportunity over failure to pass PNTR.   

President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative set a goal of doubling our nation’s exports over five years and our state’s governor, Christine Gregoire, has set major new export goals specific to Washington too.  Russia is one of the countries where the U.S. can aspire to achieve significant growth in exports. 

Our president focuses particular attention on the Pacific for trade growth. Russia has also affirmed its intention to radically expand its trade with its Pacific neighbors. Just over a week ago, Russia concluded its 2012 hosting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) with the CEO Summit in Vladivostok (Vla-dee-va-STOKE) in the Primorsky (pree-MOR-ski) Territory. 

I congratulate Russia, the Primorsky Territory and Vladivostok on their hosting this major event. The U.S. and Russia should work together for our shared economic benefit in the Pacific theater. We need to seek cooperation for the benefit of both our economies.

Washington state depends on international trade and we rely on the work of many trade related organizations. The Council for U.S.-Russia Relations and the Russian American Pacific Partnership forum are devoted to the purpose of enhancing economic opportunity with Russia and have been for many years.  And we thank them for all of their hard efforts.

So Washington, and in fact the entire Pacific Northwest and nation, is seeking to grow our economy. Russia has a similar interest to diversify and grow its economy.  While a certain degree of competition is good, pursuit of our economic agendas need not be a zero-sum proposition. The United States will benefit from a strong Russian economy, just as Russia will benefit from a strong U.S. economy.

It would also be great to expand exchanges in arts, education, technology and government, which lead to greater understanding of each other.

The language barrier remains a significant obstacle between our countries and is an area we need to address. So it would be very helpful to encourage more Russian language instruction in our schools, as well as supporting the quality of English instruction in Russian schools. 

We should work together to encourage more tourism opportunities between our regions. The Pacific Northwest has much to offer and so does Russia, especially in the territories of the Russian Far East. We are thrilled that this summer, AirCompany Yakutia (ya-KOO-tiya) with their partner in Seattle InterPacific Aviation & Marketing, Inc., successfully launched renewed direct charter passenger flight service between Anchorage, Alaska and Petropavlovsk(pe-tra-pav-LOVsk)-Kamchatsky ( (Kam-chat-ski), Kamchatka Kam-chat-ka). We wish them every success to expand this service in the future.

We could encourage greater sports exchanges and programs between our regions, such as the Goodwill Games hosted in Seattle two decades ago. Sports can build lasting friendships between athletes and communities. 

Washington has a number of formal sister city and friendship city and port relationships. The Port of Tacoma has a sister port relationship with the Port of Vladivostok (Vla-dee-va-STOKE).   Five Washington cities have formal relationships with cities in Russia. These relationships, by their very nature, are there to increase trade, cultural and business ties.

Are we taking full advantage of these existing relationships and building on them or could we do more?

Let’s work together to innovate, especially in the areas of green, clean energy production, technology and environmental protection. Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Pacific Northwest have a tremendous opportunity to share technology and stewardship practices to provide for responsible development and clean environments for future decades.  I mean face it folks between us we have the most beautiful and dynamic areas in the world.

Washington State is a leader in green energy technologies as well as environmental solution technology to treat waste and keep our air and waters clean. As neighbors we can share our best practices from both sides to ensure the health of our common North Pacific basin.

Finally, we should do an exhaustive inventory of goods and services that we have to offer each other and find ways to capitalize on areas of common interest or need. We should renew efforts to organize trade missions filled with delegates with interest to establish trade partnerships and investment ties and hopefully I would finally be able to go on one!

We offer each other so much and there is so much more we can do for and with each other.  Conferences like this important one encourage us to think in broader ways with greater vision for the future.

Let us remember the true spirit of the early pioneers of Russia and the United States in opening new lands and horizons, to forge new business opportunities and, most importantly, to deepen the bonds of friendship between our people. I thank you. Spa-see-bah.