The Final State of the Union
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Summary:
President Obama meets face-to-face with his Russian counterpart -- Vladimir Putin.
President Barack Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the Esperanza Resort in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico, June 18, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This afternoon, President Obama had his first face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart -- President Vladimir Putin -- since the other leader was inaugurated in May.
After meeting for two hours, the men spoke briefly to reporters.
President Obama described the conversation as "candid, thoughtful and thorough." He said:
Over the last three years, the United States and Russia have been able to make significant progress on a wide range of issues, including the New START Treaty, the 1,2,3 Agreement, the work we've done on Russia's accession to the WTO, and setting up a presidential process whereby issues of trade and commerce, science, technology are all discussed at a much more intensive level.
We agreed that we need to build on these successes, even as we recognize that there are going to be areas of disagreement, and that we can find constructive ways to manage through any bilateral tensions.
The leaders also put out a joint statement that touched on many of these issues in further detail.
