WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Olesya Manokhina — US and Russian businesses want to continue bilateral cooperation despite Washington considering a new bill that would impose sweeping sanctions on Moscow, Russia's Trade Envoy Alexander Stadnik told Sputnik after signing the memorandum of understanding with US Rice University.
"The agreement is reached at the time when the Congress is preparing new sanctions against Russian oil and gas sectors," Stadnik said on Wednesday. "The signing of the memorandum shows that Russian and US businesses are still interested in developing and strengthening mutually beneficial partnership."
Stadnik said the memorandum came as a result of Russian Trade Mission's efforts in expanding US-Russia working relations in science and technology fields. He added the cooperation would open up opportunities for all Russian universities to establish international partnerships with Rice University.
In May, three Russian oil and gas colleges — Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, Almetyevsk State Oil Institute, and Ukhta State Technical University — and Rice University have agreed to draft and approve the agreement during the roundtable at the Rice campus.
Last week, US media reported a number of American leading oil, energy, banking and manufacturing companies have started a lobbying campaign to try to make changes to the bill. BP, Exxon, General Electric, Boeing and Citigroup, MasterCard and Visa were among the businesses opposing the sanctions, according to CNN.
