Remarks by Secretary of State of the United States of America, Hillary Rodham Clinton, at the meeting with the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev

Mr. President, it is a great privilege for me and my official delegation to be able to visit you here today. We wanted to come to Kazan and Tatarstan for exactly the reasons you have just explained. You have created an example of how people can live together and pursue a common interest. And you have demonstrated through your leadership that being a centrist and listening to people and bringing them together to try to reach the right decision being is the most successful way to govern.

And as we have just seen here at the Kremlin with the beautiful new mosque and the renovated and restored Orthodox cathedral you respect the past while you keep your eyes firmly on the future. And we also saw an example of the partnership between Kamaz and Cummins, a great Russian company, a great American company, how we are working together to create more jobs and prosperity for our people. And I appreciate the outreach you are doing to the Islamic world and to Europe and other places to serve as a model and a bridge between the worlds of Islam and Christianity.

You said to me when we were on our walking tour that it just made sense for people to be able to follow their own religion in an atmosphere of tolerance, and for ethnic groups to live and work together, because then they can actually build a better future to do the work that must done day to day.

So as I travel around the world on these important missions that President Obama has given me, like the Armenia-Turkey mission, I may be calling on you, Mr. President, because I think that you would have a lot to contribute, not only to the future of Tatarstan and Russia, but to people who are looking for a more peaceful and positive future together. …

I have to add that the president was showing me a statue that has both symbols and the slogan that he has adopted for the presidency. And six years ago, he adopted the slogan, “Yes, we can.” So I’m going to tell President Obama that he owes it all to this president. Let someone of protocol show our American press the statue of the slogan. …