WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Burmistrov underlined that although the situation needs to improve, the demand for the Russian language in the United States is stable, and interest in Russia is rising.
“A serious constraint for the development of education exchange is the absence of a bilateral agreement of mutual recognition of educational documents,” Burmistrov stated at a conference on the future of Russian Studies in the United States, organized by Russia Direct, in Washington, DC.
When the necessity to have such an agreement became obvious several years ago, the two countries started negotiations within the framework of the working group of the bilateral presidential commission, Burmistrov explained.
“Early last year, this commission, which consisted of 20 groups in all spheres of Russia-US cooperation was frozen by the [US] administration, and that has the most institutional basis needed for the whole complex of bilateral relations,” he said.
“Russia and the United States have failed to significantly increase our bilateral turnover and strengthen our economic ties, and this fact limits an interest of business in Russia’s studies,” Burmistrov noted.
The diplomat added that another impairment to the exchange programs is the restrictive visa regime in both countries.
“Russia has suggested several times different options on how to facilitate the visa procedures and hopes to achieve a visa free regime in the future. We are not turning this option down,” he stressed.
