Taken by Medvedev to the site of one of his most ambitious projects, a Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley in the future "innovation town" of Skolkovo outside Moscow, Schwarzenegger said he believed in Russia's future.

"Here is a great opportunity for all of us," the ex-Hollywood actor said at a forum in Skolkovo.

"We are so much better when we form partnerships. I am convinced that it will be very good for California and very good for Russia," he said.

Since becoming president in 2008, Medvedev has pushed the plan to build a high-tech hub in Skolkovo where top foreign and Russian scientists could focus their energies on nuclear, space, medicine and other sciences.

This summer, Medvedev travelled to the United States for talks with his counterpart Barack Obama and California was the first stop of the June visit.

Medvedev said he had great hopes for the Russian-US partnership.

"We are extremely interested in your collossal experience," the Kremlin chief said. "We are not embarrassed to learn. We very much hope that our cooperation will bring good fruit."

Earlier in the day Schwarzenegger, who is due to step down as governor of California in January, praised Russia as a land of opportunities.

"I think we could really create a great boom in (the high-tech) industry here," he said.

"There is no reason why Russia should not have the best cars and export them to European countries," along with other products, "especially exercise equipment and food supplements," Schwarzenegger said.

In a demonstration of Russia's former car industry, President Medvedev also took Schwarzenegger on a ride in a vintage GAZ Chaika model, which was used in the 1960s by Soviet high officials.

Schwarzenegger's delegation includes figures like former Intel chairman Craig Barrett and leading executives from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Oracle.

"I love places with extraordinary potential and in Russia the potential for growth is so extraordinary," Schwarzenegger said. "You look at it and say 'Oh my God!' it's like a diamond or gold mine."

Schwarzenegger, who once played a Russian policeman in "Red Heat," a movie set in perestroika-era Moscow, said that "it's a challenging thing" for the country to switch from Communism and integrate into the global economy.

In a sign that it might not have been easy for the ex-Hollywood star to also keep up to date wich breakneck changes in Russia, he made a slip of the tongue, saying "Soviet" instead of "Russian" as the audience laughed.

He was in Moscow in the winter of 1987 to film "Read Heat" and said he had been impressed by the abundance of snow then.

Overseen by the Kremlin's top ideologue Vladislav Surkov, Skolkovo's main aim is to entice top scientists to the hub where they could focus on IT, nuclear and bio-medical technologies, energy and telecommunications.

Medvedev admitted that the idea "has both ardent adherents and active critics."

Foreign executives in Skolkovo said that the project would only take off if Russian businesspeople were allowed to work and create freely without state intereference.

"The government should set the rules of the game and let the players play the game," said Franklin "Pitch" Johnson, founding partner of Asset Management Company considered a top venture capital guru.

"Innovations should really take place throughout Russia. It is not a certain spot that takes the center stage."

Schwarzenegger caused a sensation among Muscovite commuters on Sunday night when he took the metro and proudly posted a picture of himself on Twitter squeezed among hordes of standing passengers.

"People in Moscow apparently love their public transit," he tweeted laconically.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News