Gore Leads Russian Premier on a Silicon Valley Stroll

Two men who are expected to seek the presidencies of the twin superpowers of the old world order traveled to the Silicon Valley on Thursday for a private briefing by the intelligentsia of the new information economy.

Vice President Al Gore took Russian Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin to Northern California to introduce him to some of the high-tech leaders whose entrepreneurial zeal has helped fuel the U.S. economic boom.

The field trip was designed to demonstrate to Chernomyrdin the vibrancy of America’s free market system and to display Gore’s technological acumen in the process. Although Russia’s economy is being overhauled, U.S. officials say more work is needed before it can replicate the kind of environment that has kept America’s economy competitive.

“Part of what we want them to be able to hear from the entrepreneurs is their ability to compete with each other and go after each other, and how that has kept them on the competitive edge,” said one senior Clinton administration official traveling with Gore.

The scene of Chernomyrdin visiting Silicon Valley was reminiscent of Nikita S. Khrushchev, who took it upon himself to develop the Soviet Union’s collective farms, when he visited Iowa cornfields owned by private farmers. While Chernomyrdin has supported policies to develop the nascent free market in Russia, he earned his professional stripes at Gasprom, the quintessential example of the massive bureaucracies of the old Soviet command economy.

But unlike Khrushchev, Chernomyrdin is trying to adapt the lessons of the free market to Russia’s economy.

“Other countries around the world are looking at Silicon Valley and the way that small economies are changing the economy of the whole country,” said Cisco Systems president John Chambers, who hosted the afternoon session with Gore, Chernomyrdin, high-tech executives and venture capitalists.

Earlier in the day, Gore and Chernomyrdin toured the Sunnyvale facility of Lockheed Martin, viewing examples of technological joint ventures between Russian and American companies in the commercial space business.

Wearing blue protective robes, they looked at the framework of the satellite that is the basis of some of the collaborative projects. Lockheed is engaged in projects with Russian companies worth $7 billion. For instance, Lockheed is using a Russian company’s engines to propel its new rockets designed for launching satellites.

Chernomyrdin was obviously impressed by the display of the two nations’ collaboration in endeavors that for many years they used against each other.

“As few as seven or eight years ago, these toys were aimed at our two countries by our two countries. And these toys have the capacity to destroy everything in this place,” Chernomyrdin said. “Who would have thought seven or eight years ago that we would be working together?”

With Chernomyrdin by his side, Gore made the most of the opportunity to display his grasp of the new economy and his skills at diplomacy in a state that will be key to his likely presidential bid in 2000.

With 54 electoral votes, California is essential to any successful presidential candidate, and Gore has been making frequent trips to the state--particularly to the Silicon Valley--to demonstrate his interest.

“California is where the future is born,” Gore said at the Lockheed facility.

Gore and Chernomyrdin have been consulting regularly for the last five years. As a result, Gore has played an extraordinary part in managing the evolving relationship between the United States and its former enemy.

The two leaders have met 10 times so far, and their collaboration has spawned numerous connections between their countries on such topics as space exploration, disarmament, trade, health and agriculture.

Gore believes it has been key in keeping the U.S.-Russian relationship on track.

“We have been able to keep in bounds several different problems that could have caused the relationship to founder,” he said on Air Force Two en route to San Jose.

Although the Gore-Chernomyrdin commission has made few headlines, Gore believes its implications are significant.

“Let your mind wander out 50 years, think about a Russia committed to democracy and a free market, and a source of stability on the Eurasian landmass,” Gore said. “That’s better for the United States than a Russia seething in anger and despair and maybe experimenting with wrongheaded demagoguery.”