MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Russia and the US have opportunities for economic and technological cooperation, including the areas of rare earth metals, joint resource development, technology and space, but there are no prospects for launching any new projects in the current situation, Executive Director of the Stolypin Institute for the Economy of Growth Anton Sviridenko told TASS on the sidelines of the Stolypin Club meeting.
"There are no decisions yet on the main issue (the settlement in Ukraine - TASS), we are probably not talking about launching any new projects right now," he said.
According to Sviridenko, the parties have already begun working on possible areas of economic cooperation. "As far as I know, considerable research has been done into what projects these might be," the expert noted. Referring to a hypothetical tunnel between the Chukotka Peninsula and Alaska under the Bering Strait, he pointed out that it would have been symbolic and drawn a lot of attention. At the same time, Sviridenko said that pragmatic economic and technological areas could become a viable basis for cooperation.
"These are rare earth metals, joint resource development, and even technology. After all, in fact, we continue to cooperate with Americans in space, that is high-tech cooperation. There could be interesting opportunities there, too," Sviridenko said.
According to him, exploring potential areas of cooperation does not mean a quick transition to full-scale cooperation. "The work is underway, but, naturally, such things do not bring the start of full-scale cooperation any closer," the expert concluded.