Consul General meets business club
Consul General Tim Sandusky addressed the Top Club business group on May 13. Members of the organization are small-business owners and entrepreneurs who have completed the Sverdlovsk Oblast Presidential Management Program. Mr. Sandusky reviewed the activities of the Consulate General, highlighting the celebration of the 15th anniversary of its opening on March 31. He discussed the U.S. strategy to address the global financial crisis and noted the durability of U.S. business activity in the Urals region. He reviewed recent positive developments in the U.S. Russian bilateral relationship.
Mr. Sandusky expressed confidence that America has the energy and ability to overcome the crisis and that the talented and professional Russian business community would do so, too. It is especially important, he said, that countries avoid taking protectionist measures. He noted that many well-known American companies have been doing business for years in the Ural region and continue to do so successfully. He discussed the areas in which the United States and Russia have a basis for cooperation to meet the common challenges of the 21st century, including: reducing nuclear arsenals; preventing the spread of nuclear technology; combating terrorism and extremism; countering organized crime and illegal narcotics trade; reviving economic stability and economic growth; developing clean sources of energy; expanding scientific, cultural, educational and social exchanges between our citizens.
The participants expressed their eagerness to tap into American business know-how. Mr. Sandusky challenged them to develop a strategy to attract American visitors and businesses to their region. In answer to a question about his familiarity with Russian literature, the Consul General noted his fondness for Turgenev’s “Sketches from a Hunter’s Album” and the works of Vladimir Nabokov.