Zee Beam News

STANFORD, (California, USA), February 18 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Bratersky) - Former US Secretary of State George Schultz called Russia "a gold mine" for investment. If you are looking for a gold mine in the sphere of sciences and technologies, pay attention to Russia, the former US Secretary of State announced yesterday, speaking at the opening of the Russian-US symposium on technology at the Stanford University. Mr. Schultz, who was an architect of the Detente policy toward the Soviet Union under the Regan administration, gave high marks to the potential and the role of Russia on the global arena. At the same time, he called Russia's cooperation with Iran and Syria "bad news" for the security in the region. According to Mr. Schultz, the global situation "is heating up" due to Iran's nuclear ambitions. We see that Iran desires to possess nuclear weapons, and we see that Russia cooperates with Iran, Mr. Schultz underlined, adding that Iran insists on the peaceful use of its nuclear technologies. Mr. Schultz emphasized that Iran's nuclear aspirations "destabilize the situation in the Middle East." He also pointed out that despite Russia has high economic potential, such problems as significant decrease in birth rates, alcoholism and deterioration of health care hinder its progress. The participants of the two-day forum also include Stanford University professor William Perry, Russian Minister of Education and Sciences Andrei Fursenko, and prominent representatives of Russian and US business circles.