He added that "we believe that our efforts are making a realdifference in building free markets and nurturing freedom, opening newpossibilities for a partnership, consolidating reform, and making realprogress around the world."

The two held a press conference following their meeting with RussianPresident Boris Yeltsin and the culmination of the ninth session ofthe Commission, which is formally known as the U.S.-Russian JointCommission on Economic and Technical Cooperation.

Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin noted, "spoke in positive terms about theefforts of the Commission in organizing Russian-American cooperationin the sphere of the economy, investments, technology, environmentalprotection, and health."

Citing the joint statement on the future of the Commission that he andGore had just signed, Chernomyrdin said he was "convinced that theprogram we have just signed, the program that outlines our work untilthe year 2000 ...envisages many concrete actions for the foreseeablefuture and this is one of our most important challenges."

Gore said the highlights of the Commission meeting included "ourcontinuing efforts to build mutual investments and trade and openRussian markets to new opportunities from the United States and,incidentally, to pay careful attention as well to some of the problemsidentified for us by our Russian colleagues, and make sure that we doour homework and solve those problems."

A major breakthrough of the Commission meeting, Gore said, was that"after much hard work we took an important, perhaps even historic stepthis week when we reached agreement to halt the production ofweapons-grade plutonium both in the United States and Russia."

He noted U.S. concerns over a draft law to restrict religion inRussia, saying "we have set in motion a process that will convey toRussian officials the concern about certain aspects of this pendingmeasure which may abridge basic citizens' freedoms as we read thelanguage."

Regarding possible Russian transfer of missile technology to Iran,Gore said "there is no doubt in my mind that the goals of Russia andthe United States are the same. We share the same concern aboutproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and proliferation oftechnologies that can assist in the delivery of weapons of massdestruction, such as ballistic missile technologies."

Asked about the safety of Mir and whether U.S. astronaut David Wolfwould join the Mir crew, Gore said "the NASA review is still underwayon this latest Shuttle mission and I think the decision is due to bemade in the next few days."

He noted that NASA Administrator Dan Goldin "made the point in ourCommission meeting that during the course of this work he has beenextremely impressed with the attention to safety on the part of theRussian Space Agency."

Following is a transcript of the joint press conference:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1997, 15:30
RUSSIAN FEDERATION GOVERNMENT HOUSE
U.S. VICE-PRESIDENT ALBERT GORE
AND RUSSIAN FEDERATION PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN
JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE ON GCC PLENARY RESULTS

MODERATOR: Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation ViktorStepanovich Chernomyrdin and Vice-President of the United States ofAmerica Albert Gore are signing the Joint Statement of the RussianFederation and the United States on the Future Work of theRussian-American Commission for Economic and Technological Cooperation.

SHABDURASULOV: Ladies and gentlemen, we begin the press conference. Iwill give the floor to the Chairman of the Government of the RussianFederation Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin.

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: Esteemed Mr. Vice-President, ladies andgentlemen. Today was an eventful day, a day full of events and goodresults. We have come here straight from a meeting in the Kremlin andwe have just signed a joint program of our actions. We visited thePresident, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, and we discussed the issues onwhich we worked in the course of the 9th session of theGore-Chernomyrdin Commission. The talk with Boris Nikolayevich, asusual, was extremely full of substance. We discussed all the mainissues of Russian-American relations and of course we discussed theissues on our agenda.

We used as a reference point the Russian-American summits in Helsinki,Paris and Denver, which set the tasks in all the main areas of ourjoint work for the near-term perspective. The President spoke inpositive terms about the efforts of the Commission in organizingRussian-American cooperation in the sphere of the economy,investments, technology, environmental protection, and health.

I must say that we touched upon many other questions on which wecurrently work in the political sphere, questions between our twostates.

A few words about the work of our Commission.

In the morning we had the third, final, meeting of the Moscow part ofthe 9th session. But our work does not end here. It will be followedby the Samara stage. But some of the results can be summed up alreadynow.

I have to say that we managed to make considerable progress in each ofthe areas of our cooperation. We had a detailed discussion of accessto the markets, investment cooperation, ways to accelerate Russia'sintegration into international economic structures.

The Russian side informed the American delegation about the details of itsplans to create modern market institutes, including proper legal basis.

You know that the work on a new tax code has entered its final stage. Thegovernment intends to make all the necessary effort so that we would entera new economic year to begin on January 1 with a new tax legislation.

Both at the plenary session and in the committee for development ofbusiness cooperation a good deal of attention was paid to other issuesas well, issues connected with how to improve bilateral trade andinvestment climate.

It was stated that a speedy development of a production sharingagreement can ensure not just considerable, but substantial expansionof our cooperation.

A lot of attention was paid to specific projects in the fuel andenergy sector and agriculture, aircraft industry, environment,science, health care.

I would like to talk specifically about cooperation in the field ofconversion. We came to the conclusion that this requires a broaderapproach in order to make a breakthrough in cooperation based on hightechnologies most of which -- and I don't think I will be telling youa secret -- have double uses.

I would like to say once again that our work doesn't end here.Tomorrow the Vice President, Mr. Gore, and I will go to Samara. Wewill be accompanied by members of our commission. There we willcontinue the dialogue with representatives of Russian regions and U.S.business people, which we began in February, 1997 in Chicago.

This is a new element of our joint work on which we agreed with AlGore during our previous meeting in Lisbon in December 1997, that is,to hold traveling sessions in various regions of Russia and the U.S.

We are confident that U.S.-Russian cooperation will reach a new levelonly when it fully engages business circles and regions with theirhuge potential and great opportunities.

That is why in Samara we will have a substantive discussion with theauthorities of the subjects of the Federation of the Volga area andwith business people on putting in place the Regional InvestmentInitiative which we proposed together with the U.S. President inFebruary 1997. Its aim is to establish direct cooperation at the levelof regions while the federal bodies will provide all the necessaryconditions for that.

I can repeat what I said at the closing of our session today, and Ibelieve that I am speaking for both sides, that we are satisfied withthe work of the ninth session of the Commission, we are satisfied withour current relations. I am convinced that the program we have justsigned, the program that outlines our work until the year 2000 -- butthis is only part of our program -- it envisages many concrete actionsfor the foreseeable future and this is one of our most importantchallenges, I mean the government of the Russian Federation and thegovernment of the United States.

Allow me once again in the presence of mass media to thank the membersof the Commission, our colleagues from the United States, our Russiancolleagues who are so committed to our important cause. This willbenefit our relations and our countries. Thank you. And I would liketo thank my friend Al Gore for his serious work and his seriousattitude to all the problems that we are discussing these days. He isthe engine, he puts in a lot of effort to ensure that long-term issuesare not just considered, but acted on. I am grateful to him and I amgrateful for the work that we have been doing together for severalyears. I am grateful to those sitting here who have been involved inthe work of the Commission from the very beginning, since 1993.

MODERATOR: The Vice-President will now make remarks.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: Spasibo bolshoye. Thank you very much, ViktorStepanovich and my colleagues on the Commission. It is a greatprivilege and honor to be able to work with you. I want to acknowledgethe members of the Russian delegation and the American delegationinclude the members of the cabinet in both nations and especially theco-chairs and all of the Commission members, Ambassador Collins andothers.

To the members of the press corps and to our colleagues here, I would liketo first apologize for starting this a little bit later than we hadintended, but the discussions with President Yeltsin took significantlylonger than was allocated for us; but it was a very productive discussionand, as always, a very interesting and enjoyable one.

Before I review that meeting and review the work of our Commission Iwould like to begin by saying on a personal note how grateful my wifeTipper and I are to you, Viktor Stepanovich and Valentina Petrovna,and to all our friends on the Russian side for hosting us in such awarm and magnificent manner.

We have really enjoyed the extraordinary hospitality here on thisvisit. I have come to greatly value your friendship, ViktorStepanovich, your constant and unfailing commitment to our Commissionand to its work. You had some kind words about my role in theCommission a moment ago, but it is no secret that I have been learningfrom you as we have gone through nine rounds now. And it is goodchemistry, we work together well. And the same is true of ourcolleagues in the Commission.

I know I can speak for all of my American colleagues in saying that wefeel that the engagement we have with our Russian friends in thisCommission is some of the most productive work we have ever been ableto do. And it is very satisfying to see things happen that have such abig impact on the reform process, on people's life, on the prospectsfor prosperity in both of our countries. So we are very grateful forthe opportunity to do this work. And we believe that our efforts aremaking a real difference in building free markets and nurturingfreedom, opening new possibilities for a partnership, consolidatingreform, and making real progress around the world.

Some of the highlights of this ninth round of our Commission includeour continuing efforts to build mutual investments and trade and openRussian markets to new opportunities from the United States and,incidentally, to pay careful attention as well to some of the problemsidentified for us by our Russian colleagues, and make sure that we doour homework and solve those problems.

We have taken major steps in this direction since the work of ourCommission began several years ago. U.S. investment in Russia nowaccounts for fully one-third of all the total foreign investments inthe Russian marketplace. Is there more to do? Of course, there is.Much more investment is possible and as the visions that willstimulate it are put into place I expect in the months and years aheadto see a surge of investment in Russia.

One of the things that will make the most difference in creating thissurge of investment is passage of a new commercial tax law, a new taxcode, also the protection of intellectual property and success infighting against corruption and crime.

We also reviewed an important new effort that has already beenreferred to by Viktor Stepanovich as the U.S.-Russian regionalinvestment initiative. Our goal is to work together in a systematicand focused way to encourage new U.S. trade and investment in Russia'sregions. As Viktor Stepanovich said, he and I will travel to Samara inthe Volga region tomorrow to meet with and learn from regionalbusiness leaders and local officials about the best ways to openmarkets and minds to new engagement, new commerce and exchanges. I amlooking forward to this trip and I am very optimistic about it.

In another area I am very pleased to announce that after much hardwork we took an important, perhaps even historic step this week whenwe reached agreement to halt the production of weapons-grade plutoniumboth in the United States and Russia.

Because of this agreement three currently operating Russian reactorswill be converted to civilian uses by the end of the decade. By endingthe production of plutonium at these sites the agreement makes a majorcontribution to the advancement of our non-proliferation interests.This is a very positive new step and I commend our friends in Russiato join us in making it a reality.

Before closing and taking your questions, I would like to speakbriefly on another issue of considerable importance to myself and toPresident Clinton and to our fellow citizens in the United States. Irefer to the draft law on religion just passed by the State Duma.

I have conveyed my concerns about this issue both to Prime MinisterChernomyrdin and to President Yeltsin. We have set in motion a processthat will convey to Russian officials the concern about certainaspects of this pending measure which may abridge basic citizens'freedoms as we read the language.

Let me say I look forward to working in this process in our customarystraightforward and open way. I was very pleased with the fact that wenow have experts on both sides reviewing the new language that wasbrought to our meetings today. We are attempting to make it very clearwhat the basis for our concerns is and how some of the changes thatwere intended to address those concerns may or may not do so. But weare going to continue this discussion intensively.

And, finally, on the subject of possible transfers of missiletechnologies to Iran. I can say after my discussions both with thePrime Minister on many occasions during this trip and after thediscussion with President Yeltsin that there is no doubt in my mindthat the goals of Russia and the United States are the same. We sharethe same concern about proliferation of weapons of mass destructionand proliferation of technologies that can assist in the delivery ofweapons of mass destruction, such as ballistic missile technologies.

Ambassador Frank Wisner and Russian Space Agency Director Yuri Koptev,one of our colleagues on the Commission, have briefed the PrimeMinister and me on this issue in detail. The process they haveunderway is a very intensive one. They will meet again within sixweeks. I can tell you it is a very productive process. It is making agreat deal of headway. This is a partnership and it is a productivepartnership. It made an excellent beginning on a difficult job oftrying to get to the bottom of this issue and as the meetingscontinue, our involvement in discussing this will also continue.

I am very impressed by the efforts to dig into this question by ourRussian colleagues, and President Clinton and I will remain vigilantand engaged on this issue in the days and weeks ahead. With that, Iwill conclude by saying this was an enormously productive andeffective session, one of our very best, and I look forward toconvening our Commission's tenth round some time in the winter monthsin Washington. Thank you very much.

SHABDURASULOV: We pass on to questions from the press. The firstquestion is awarded to the Russian press.

QUESTION: A question for Mr. Chernomyrdin and for the U.S.Vice-President. You said that during the course of your meetings youdiscussed Russian supplies of missile technology to Iran. I would askyou to comment on Russian cooperation with India in the light ofPakistan's recent statements that it has developed a nuclear bomb.

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: We have discussed the questions of ourrelations with Iran in the military and technical field. I must tellyou, as I said during our discussions, that we have our commitmentsand we are meeting those commitments. We are not diverging from ourcommitments and even if somebody wishes to diverge from thesecommitments, they will not have their way. There is no question of anymissile deliveries. It was not touched upon and it is just notpossible. Once again, we have obligations and we are not dodging them.As to relations with other states, the more so relations with India,we did not discuss these questions because there was no object fordiscussion.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: I agree with everything that was said. I wouldonly add that from time to time in the past we have discussed theproblem of proliferation and the concerns of both of our countries inother regions of the world, and in the past Commission meetings therehave been discussions of the Indian subcontinent, India and Pakistan,but that did not come up during this round.

QUESTION: AP. I have a question for both participants, if possible. Asa result of your meetings, what can you say to reassure foreigninvestors in the energy sector, specifically, such as Exxon, aboutRussia's commitments to foreign investment in that sector, given therecent problems with deals? Is Moscow in a position to push throughsupport for such deals, given that many decisions are made on theregional level?

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: Yes, we will continue this work. We arenot just continuing this work. As I have had already occasion to say,we, the government -- the President signed this executive order. Wespecially formed a commission on the protection of the rights ofinvestors. All investors, both domestic and foreign. I have beeninstructed to head this commission in my capacity as Chairman ofGovernment. Special importance and significance is being attached tothis issue.

What is the importance and what is the complexity? The complexity isthat our legislation not always allows the solution of those questionsthat are connected with those projects that are now being worked outor discussed.

You know that in accordance with the existing law on productionsharing agreements the government has submitted more than 130 projectsto be carried out in accordance with the terms of this law. But so farthe Duma has adopted seven projects. We have now determinedpriorities. We have allocated money for them. The projects I mentionedinclude oil projects as well. But, as I said, there are difficulties.They are connected with legislation.

That is why the Commission headed by the government chairman, and thegovernment will do everything to address these problems. Once again,we are not talking about defense, but about creating conditions forwork on these projects. This is not a simple question. It will takesome time for the acts passed now to start working, and for new actsto appear which would contribute to the work of investors and notimpede that work. Once again, we attach great importance to thismatter. It is necessary for Russia. It applies to domestic and foreigninvestors alike. For the next two years we will work along theselines.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: If I could add a comment. We spent a considerableamount of time on this subject. Two evenings ago -- we spent timeyesterday morning during the Commission session. Secretary Daley, whois the vice-chair on the U.S. side, and Secretary of Energy FedericoPena, Jan Kalicki, and others participated in a very vigorousdiscussion as our Russian colleagues did. At lunch yesterday wecontinued this discussion and we have established a two-month studyperiod during which the two vice-chairs are going to be looking atthis along with the Secretary of Energy and the Minister of Energy andwe are going to attempt to resolve the differences that have arisen. Iam more optimistic after our discussions than I was upon arriving here.

MODERATOR: The final question from the Russian side.

QUESTION: A question to the two co-chairs of the Commission. How muchdid you succeed in the course of this Commission session in overcomingrestrictions in mutual trade? And also, how prepared is the U.S.Administration to take more effective steps to grant Russia the statusof a transitional market-oriented economy?

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: It would be fair to say that we did notconsider some specific questions which are in the works. But on thewhole we did have a large-scale discussion on the status of Russia asa market economy and on Russia's accession to the WTO. We paid muchattention to the amendments that are still in force on the Americanside, decisions surviving from times long gone by. But this, ofcourse, is far from simple work. Yes, this, of course, restrains us.This is not convenient for us. But we have conducted an extensivediscussion. I think we have what to talk about, what to discuss.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: Prime Minister Chernomyrdin was very forceful onthis question and I think was very effective in conveying the Russianpoint of view. And we have agreed to work on an agenda designed toaddress these concerns.

I might say in response to your specific question, that anti-dumpingmeasures are applied in our law without regard to whether a nation isclassified as having a market economy or not. It is separate from thedefinition in the law of market economy. But obviously Russia has amarket economy and we talked about the steps that have to be followedin terms of our law to be so classified in the U.S. law, and we aremoving forward on that.

I might also say that even though we have not discussed it here, wehad major accomplishments in the field of health care, major advancesin both countries, and very optimistic developments in Russia, a greatdeal of progress was reported as a result of the work of ourCommission. We had a lot of progress reported on the environment andthe environmental working group, in agriculture we talked about apilot credit facility, and allocated money to that from the Commission-- part of that will be in Samara, where we will be tomorrow.

We talked about a number of other subjects as well, of course, and we willhave a written summary of all the agreements and all of the results of theCommission, so that the things we did not have a chance to cover inspeaking to you, will at least be presented to you in writing.

QUESTION: CNN. Mr. Vice President, a decision was supposed to be madetoday on whether the Shuttle mission would go forward this week. Has adecision been made, what is it, if it has been made, and is the Mirsafe enough for David Wolf to join the Mir crew this weekend?

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: That decision has not yet been made. The reviewby NASA is still underway on an intensive basis. We discussed thatwith our Russian colleagues (inaudible) gave a report to us on the Mirand said it is back fully operational at this point. But the NASAreview is still underway on this latest Shuttle mission and I thinkthe decision is due to be made in the next few days.

Q: (Off Mike).

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: That's the subject under intensive review.Incidentally, (NASA Administrator) Dan Goldin made the point in ourCommission meeting that during the course of this work he has beenextremely impressed with the attention to safety on the part of theRussian Space Agency, and there has been an impression on the part ofsome that perhaps the Russian Space Agency hasn't had the samephilosophy about safety that we have, and Mr. Goldin said in hisexperience that's just not -- by the fact that he has seen them inthis review.

But as for the Mir itself, that's still the subject of intensiveinvestigation by NASA. And the results will be known in a few days.

We've learned a great deal, incidentally, from this whole experienceand a lot of the lessons have been invaluable, some of the experimentsthat have been conducted in growing tissue in space, growingcartilage, have enormous positive implications for the future. Some ofthe lessons about engineering and design of the safety systems mightnot have been learnt in any other way.

So, regardless of what happens in the future we've already benefitedtremendously from our experiments with the Russians on the Mir.

MODERATOR: Viktor Stepanovich, do you want to add anything?

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: We will fly. No problem. Very often wecreate problems ourselves. Of course, problems and questions do exist.Of course, the station requires a certain attitude. It has been inoperation not for a year or two. But that's why we are working together.

I think that the shuttle mission which is being prepared now willanswer many of the questions. It will deliver spare parts. It willbring people and specialists. I know that our journalists arepreparing -- I think that U.S. journalists should probably go upthere, too. Just to look from up there. Perhaps, all mistakes andflaws will be better seen from there.

Yuri Nikolayevich, let's step up work. I know that Yuri MikhailovichBaturin is preparing himself -- he, too, has some relation to thepress. Let's do it together. Let them fly.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: Is it safe for Jill Dougherty? I bet you would.

QUESTION: Dear co-chairmen, Viktor Stepanovich and Mr. Vice President,did you discuss the lifting of restrictions on the commerciallaunches? When the commission began its work it was expected that itwould discuss it.

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: No, we did not discuss it. I am tellingyou honestly. But I think commercial launches will of course beincreased. Life demands that it be so.

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: We discussed this issue on many occasions in thepast. But it was not a part of the fabric of this discussion. It willcertainly come up again in the future and it is part of the on-goingdialogue between the two sides in the Space Committee.

MODERATOR (American): The last question will go to David Hoffman ofthe Washington Post.

QUESTION: The Vice President said that some new information came tohand in the work of the Wisner-Koptev working group. Could you saywhat specific new information was obtained?

VICE PRESIDENT GORE: We agreed not to divulge the details of the studybecause it involves intelligence information in both countries and forobvious reasons it cannot be made public. But I would say in a generalway that one of the new lessons of this report is that it is obviousthat there is a vigorous effort by Iran to obtain the technologiesthat it needs to build a ballistic missile and to build nuclearweapons. In a sense that is not new. But the kinds of details that wewere able to share with one another I think flesh it out in a new way.But we are obligated to one another not to go into those details and Ihope you can understand why. But perhaps, Viktor Stepanovich wouldwant to respond to this.

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: I won't tell you anything at all.

QUESTION: (off mike) ... the problem of non-governmental, non-stateefforts to proliferate this material as compared to the Russian state?

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: Will you repeat, they don't hear you. Youspeak so fast that they don't hear you. And speak into the mike.

TRANSLATOR: The question was basically, did the study reveal any factsof non-governmental participation in such transfers?

PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN: The report that was prepared by Mr.Koptev and his colleague is a very thorough one, a very good one. Hesatisfied us as regards all questions. We believe that in terms ofthis report there is what to work on. And we will work. We aregrateful to them for preparing such a document. Thank you.

MODERATOR: I thank everybody. The press conference is over.