A new organization, Utah/Soviet Initiatives, has been formed to organize trade missions and facilitate economic and business connections between Utah and the Soviet Union.
"Lately, businesses throughout the state and region have taken a keen interest in what they perceive as economic opportunities, but there are many barriers to free and open trade. There are a lot of gaps to be bridged," said the group's president, Mark Hurst.Hurst is a partner in an advertising and public communications firm specializing in political and governmental affairs.
"We see our group as a catalyst for information about all aspects of Soviet life, their government and their economy, so that Utah businessmen and women won't have such huge gaps to bridge when trade opportunities become a reality."
The first two projects of Utah/Soviet Initiatives have been hosting Vyacheslav Pismennyi, minister of science at the Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute in Moscow, and his associate, Sergei Akimenko, on a trip to Utah to explore trade agreements with high-technology industries, and working to establish a sister relationship between the Soviet government and the state of Utah.
In April, Utah/Soviet Initiatives will conduct a Soviet Awareness Symposium, featuring speakers and workshops on economic and business opportunities in the USSR. The conference will be headed by Lt. Gov. Val Oveson, who recently led a Utah delegation to the Soviet Union.
Hurst said a number of groups, notably the Utah Committee for Soviet American Relations, have spent years promoting Soviet awareness, and Utah/Soviet Initiatives won't compete with them. These groups have focused on cultural awareness, and USI will emphasize business and economic issues, he said.
Vice president of the new group is Paul McCarty, a public school administrator who has organized numerous educational exchanges with young people from the Salt Lake area.
The second vice president is Terry Brewer, assistant director of the Travel and Tourism Research Association at the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Treasurer is Sanford Topham, a consulting and training coordinator with a firm that provides marketing and management consulting in the international marketplace. Topham writes and edits the monthly newsletter, "Soviet Business," from Orem in conjunction with Moscow State University.
Attorney Gary Hansen, a longtime student of Russian history, is the group's secretary and legal counsel.