Russian President Dmitri Medvedev will be in the United States in the next few days. His visit will focus on economic and trade matters.
俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫即将来美国访问，这次访问重点将集中在经济和贸易方面。
The high point of President Medvedev's stay in the United States will be his visit to Silicon Valley - an area in northern California known for its high-tech companies, venture capitalists and forward-looking entrepreneurs.
梅德韦杰夫在美国逗留的重点将是访问硅谷，这个位于北加州的地区以高科技公司、风险投资家和前瞻性企业闻名。
Experts, such as Robert Legvold from Columbia University, say Mr. Medvedev is trying to generate interest in his plan to create a Russian Silicon Valley in the suburbs of Moscow known as the Skolkova Innovation Initiative.
专家说，梅德韦杰夫为他计划在莫斯科郊外建立俄罗斯硅谷而努力激发人们的兴趣。俄罗斯计划在斯科尔科沃开发科技创新园区。
"That area of Skolkova, where the Skolkova School of Business and Management is located, has a fair amount of acreage," he said. "So when Medvedev committed himself to the idea of creating a Silicon Valley, and there were a number of parts, different cities in Russia that vied for its location, it was decided to put it in this park. I think the notion is that there will be some link between the businesses and research centers that are created and the school."
哥伦比亚大学教授罗伯特.莱格沃尔德说：“ 斯科尔科沃管理学院所在地区就是这个科技创新园区选定的地址，那里有比较宽阔的土地。当梅德韦杰夫致力于兴建这个硅谷的时候，俄罗斯有很多地方的不同城市争相提出承办这个科技创新园区，最后确定在斯科尔科沃。我认为这意味着在这里创立这个园区是要和这个管理学院形成一种联络。”
David Kramer, former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, says the Russian president will be in northern California to try and form business partnerships and to learn how Silicon Valley got started.
小布什政府时期在国务院任职的高级官员戴维.克拉默说，梅德韦杰夫将到硅谷努力建立生意伙伴关系，学习硅谷创业的经验。
"He's looking for investment. He's looking for expertise and know-how," he said. "He's looking to form consortiums and alliances with the private sector, with the universities."
他说：“他是来寻找投资的。他来搜寻专业技术和高科技。他希望成立财团，和私营企业和大学形成联盟。”
"And the question is how much interest there really will be and how much money there might be, at least from the outside. There's money in Russia that can be provided to fund some of this, but how much money from the West is there in supporting this kind of initiative? Those are questions that don't have answers yet," he added.
“问题是从外界能真正吸引多少兴趣，能得到多少可能的资金。俄罗斯可以为此提供资金，但是从西方国家可以得到多少对这一园区的支持呢？这些问题还都没有答案。”
Skolkova initiative
Analysts say President Medvedev's idea of creating a Russian Silicon Valley is tied to his broader plan to modernize the country's economy.
分析人士说，梅德韦杰夫要创立俄罗斯硅谷的想法和他更广泛的实现俄罗斯经济现代化的计划是密不可分的。
"There is a realization at the end of the day that despite all the profits that Russia got from its sale of oil and gas over the last 10 years, that unless it modernizes its economy and reforms it, it will be a declining power," said John Parker [expressing his own, personal views] with the National Defense University. "So there is what seems to be a growing body of opinion in Russia among leadership circles that Russia has to start investing in its own technology sector."
约翰.帕克是国防大学的教授，他表达了他个人的看法。他说：“ 俄罗斯最终认识到，尽管他们过去10年一直通过出售石油和天然气获得了大量收益，它仍将是一个走下坡路的大国。除非它实现经济现代化，将经济进行改革。俄罗斯领导层逐渐认识到，必须开始对本国技术领域投资了。”
For that to work, Parker says the Skolkova initiative must be copied throughout Russia. "The danger is that it would just be a very confined experiment," he said. "You really need system-wide Skolkovas - Silicon Valley - otherwise it ends up just like under Catherine the Great when they imported a lot of German tradesmen and planted them in various settlements - but they were fairly self-contained. To really do the trick, Skolkova can't be self-contained. Its rules have to apply to all of Russian society, to all of Russia's economy."
帕克说，俄罗斯要做到这一点，斯科尔科沃科技园区必须成为俄罗斯各地的榜样。他说：“ 危险在于这仍是一个非常受限制的实验。俄罗斯真正需要的是体制的改革，也就是体制范围的硅谷化。否则这些努力不过是当年俄国女皇叶卡捷琳娜改革的翻版。她吸收了大批德国商人把他们安置在各地，但这些人基本上是自成一体的。俄罗斯的条例必须适用于整个国家和社会，适用于俄罗斯的经济。”
After visiting Silicon Valley, President Medvedev comes to Washington for a brief summit with President Barack Obama.
访问硅谷之后，梅德韦杰夫总统将前往华盛顿与奥巴马总统举行简短的峰会。包括克雷默在内的一些专家说，美俄两国之间的关系良好。
Bilateral relations
Experts such as David Kramer say relations between the two countries are good. "The Obama administration touts the U.S.-Russian relationship as one of its major foreign policy successes," he said. "I wonder whether that says more about the rest of its foreign policy than about the U.S.-Russian relationship."
克雷莫说：“奥巴马行政当局把美俄关系大力宣扬为它外交政策的重大成功之一。我想这也许是对奥巴马政府外交政策的其它部分的评价，而不是评价美俄关系。”
"But having said that, relations are certainly better than they were at the end of 2008, when there were significant tensions between Moscow and Washington in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war. And so the tone and environment are much better than they were," he continued.
“不过，尽管如此，两国之间现在的关系肯定比2008年年底的时候要好。那个时候，俄罗斯打完了和格鲁吉亚的战争，莫斯科和华盛顿的关系相当紧张。现在两国对话的语调和气氛比过去改善了很多。”
Experts say the two sides also will discuss a host of other issues, including arms control after the recent signing of the New START Treaty, what to do about Iran following tougher United Nations sanctions, as well as trade and economic questions.
专家说，美国和俄罗斯将讨论很多其它方面的问题，包括最近签署了削减战略武器新条约之后的军备控制、联合国对伊朗实施更严厉制裁之后如何应对伊朗、以及其它贸易和经济问题。 |