127 



the loans to support small- and mid-sized United States firms in- 

 vesting in the former Soviet Union. 



Mr. Penny. We have had — just as a follow-on, we have partici- 

 pated in two USIA-sponsored exchange efforts in my part of Min- 

 nesota. One about a year ago involved Russian entrepreneurs who 

 did about a 6-week apprenticeship program with local business peo- 

 ple in Rochester and some of the surrounding communities. 



And then this year the USIA program for the Baltic States 

 brought civic leaders to Minnesota and somewhat to Georgia, and 

 they essentially worked in local units of government or in schools. 



And, again, they were just trying to figure out how our civic 

 structure and our infi*astructure was managed here. And the goal 

 on the part — in both cases was to send them back with new ideas 

 and new approaches that they could hopefully initiate within their 

 own societies. At least the latest group was specifically tasked to 

 go home and sponsor seminars which kind of tracks with what your 

 business centers are trying to accomplish over there. So we have 

 tremendous challenges ahead. 



Burton, in trjdng to establish joint ventures, do you have a rela- 

 tionship with AKKOR, this farm cooperative group, and is that a 

 potential avenue for you to pursue? 



Mr. Joseph. We think not. We think it is bureaucratic. 



Mr. Penny. You think that even though it represents kind of the 

 private farmers within the society there, that it is too bureaucratic 

 to work there? You are more interested in just one-on-one relation- 

 ships? 



Mr. Joseph. Yes, sir. In the bureaucracy of Russia, it is no dif- 

 ferent than the bureaucracy of the United States. They don't make 

 decisions. 



Mr. Penny. Ms. Cashman. 



Ms. Cashman. Can I make one comment on the AKKOR? 



Since Land O'Lakes was with AKKOR at its inception, I would 

 describe the AKKOR association as being — when people think 

 about AKKOR, they think about it as being a very bureaucratic or- 

 ganization in that it is Moscow based. And, to a large degree, that 

 is true. 



However, Dr. Bosmasnokov himself is head and shoulders above 

 the other individuals within AKKOR. So what you have is you have 

 an individual that has great integrity and great vision and great 

 leadership capabilities, and then you have a Tot of individuals with- 

 in the national level of AKKOR who are — some are stronger than 

 others, some are not. 



But when you get down to the local level, for example, many of 

 the private farmers are affiliated with AKKOR, because right now 

 AKKOR has been the only one that has been able to mobilize credit 

 and access to credit to what are called first-year farmers. But you 

 really — in fact, in many of our discussions when the Russians were 

 here for the annual meeting, you had the people from Venev say- 

 ing, now, let's keep Dr. Bosmasnokov out of this because this is 

 AKKOR Venev and it is not the Moscow center AKKOR that is dis- 

 cussing this. 



So there are some disparities, and there is not an evenness of 

 leadership within the AKKOR association. As a result, you get a 

 lot of bureaucracy. 



