Remarks and a question-and-answer session with students at St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 3, 2002

And finally, you've got to treat people with respect on your team. And by respecting people, they become--they become better members of the team and, therefore, give better advice and work toward the same goal.

President Putin. To be successful in any kind of business, in any kind of enterprise, you have to have two qualities: You have to have a sense of responsibility, and you have to have a sense of love.

Unfortunately, we have to come to an end here. Somebody is going to start crying back there if they don't get a question.

Russia and the World Trade Organization

[At this point, the questioner spoke in Russian, and a translation was not immediately provided.]

President Putin. I did the right thing by giving the question to her; she's asking President Bush instead. [Laughter]

[At this point, the questioner spoke in Russian, and a translation was not immediately provided.]

President Putin. Great question, WTO.

Q. The question is for President Bush from--[inaudible]--from the Department of International Relations: What specific and concrete steps can we expect from the United States in order to support our accession to the World Trade Organization?

President Bush. Starting with having a President who thinks you ought to be in the WTO--and I think you ought to be. And I think the accession to the WTO ought to be based upon the rules that every other nation has had to live up to, nothing harsher, nothing less harsh.

And I've told Vladimir in private and I've told the American people, I'm for Russia going into the WTO, just like I've asked--just like I asked Congress yesterday once in a press conference in Russia to get rid of Jackson-Vanik.

So, to answer your questions, I vote aye, assuming that the President--the Russian Government continues to reform her economy, open it up, make market-based economy work. And that's exactly what the intentions of this President--that's the intention of this President.

President Putin. George said it very well. The President of Russia has to want to be a member of the WTO. And he said that he's for it. If that's sufficient, I'm in. [Laughter] But on conditions acceptable to Russia. [Laughter]

Dear friends, I want to thank you. I would like to thank you for the warm and friendly atmosphere in which we were, and it is of great importance for me personally, because indeed I want very much our dear guests to enjoy my native city. And although, of course, our movements create some hurdles for the movement of other people in the streets of Moscow, but, as George pointed out, the people are not very cross with us, since they wave their hands at us and smile at us. [Laughter] And today we had a friendly and kind atmosphere here, and the questions were in that spirit. And I am grateful to you for that.

And as I promised, I would like to hand over to President Bush the copies of the first diplomatic documents. And these documents actually initiated--they started the diplomatic letters exchanged between our two countries, and they date back to 1780.