Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

to enhance cooperation in the areas of energy and space, and to designate Vice PresidentGore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin as co-chairs. Over the ensuing sixyears, the Gore-Chernomyrdin [now the Gore-Stepashin] Commission, officially the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation, broadened itsperspective and became the principal means for conducting U.S.-Russian relations belowthe presidential level.The binational commission represented a new model for the conduct of foreign relations,bringing the Vice President and other Cabinet members into direct, regular contact withtheir foreign counterparts on matters of significant substance. As the Gore-ChernomyrdinCommission matured, its success led President Clinton to recommend this approach toSouth African President Nelson Mandela as a means to focus U.S. efforts to assist thetransition of South Africa from apartheid to democracy. Mandela agreed, and VicePresident Gore worked with South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to establish theU.S.-South Africa Binational Commission.Subsequently, the presidents of both Kazakstan and Ukraine sought binationalcommissions co-chaired by the Vice President and themselves to assist in their nations’transitions. With slight modifications to the original model, these commissions are alsooperating. Demonstrating the breadth of proliferation-related concerns within theinternational community, the Vice President has discussed particular proliferation-relatedissues with each of the governments with which the United States has established abinational commission.Gore-Chernomyrdin [now Stepashin] Commission. While each of the binationalcommissions represents a forum for the discussion and implementation of proliferationrelatedpolicy, the Gore-Chernomyrdin [now Stepashin] Commission has presented thebest and most frequent opportunity. The Commission is composed of eight committees,each co-chaired by U.S. and Russian Cabinet members or, in the case of DefenseConversion, their deputies (committees having interest in proliferation-related matters initalics):CommitteesAgribusinessBusiness DevelopmentDefense ConversionEnergy PolicyEnvironmentHealthScience and TechnologySpaceWorking GroupsCapital Markets ForumEnvironmental Working Group16