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After breakfast at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, the Presidents had a morning stroll and a private talk. Later they visited a public school in the neighbouring town of Crawford together with their spouses.

A group of Russian students enrolled in Texas colleges and universities was also present.

The Russian President told public school students about his impressions of the United States and answered their questions.

Vladimir Putin called Texas a major US state. He said he was quite serious in saying this as Texas is known in Russia better than any other American state, except Alaska which was sold by Russia to the USA in the 19th century. The Russian President explained this attitude to Texas by highlighting the economic similarities between Russia and Texas, including a highly developed oil sector. He mentioned numerous contacts between Russia and Texas in high-tech and space research. Mr Putin also said that Russia appreciated the fact that the date of April 12, when Yuri Gagarin made the first historic space flight, was also marked in Texas.

When answering students’ questions, George Bush said that the better the Presidents got to know each other, the more he was convinced that their joint work could be extremely positive. Their personal friendship and contribution to the development of Russian-American relations would live longer than their terms in office, he said.

George Bush also said that he had accepted Vladimir Putin’s invitation to visit Russia. He added that the exact date for the visit had not yet been fixed but he believed it would be a very important visit.

Vladimir Putin asked American students whether they wanted George Bush to visit Russia and they answered “Yes” in unison.