Berlin/Ekaterinburg/Beijing/Astana/Almaty 15-07-2010
Russia and Germany have reached an important mutual understanding after Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg for the 10th meeting of the ‘Petersburg Dialogue’.
Chancellor Merkel had left Berlin on Wednesday on a 5 day through Russia and then on to China – a trip to maintain the momentum for German exporters as trade with both nations continues to boom.
Medvedev and Merkel will discuss the establishment of “strategic alliances” between Russian and German enterprises in railway, aviation and the energy industries.
Germany is Russia’s main economic partner and enjoys close diplomatic relations with Moscow.
President Medvedev has called on German companies to aid Russia modernise its economy and further build the Moscow-Berlin partnership.
Medvedev has previously stated he places great importance in assisting Russian businesses forge economic alliances with the West generally and Germany in particular – Russian needs to slowly steer the country away from oil and gas exports as its main economic motor.
During the visit, the German engineering company Siemens will sign a major deal with the Russian state railways to supply more than 200 regional trains.
In countries where governments closely supervise the economy, business people often sign a memorandum of understanding with national leaders watching as a way of showing that the deal has the highest government approval.
While in Russia Ms. Merkel will be expected to lobby Russia to ease its hostility to the planned gas pipeline which will cross Turkey.
Russia has opposed ‘Nabucco’ - to ship Caspian gas westwards – because it would compete with its own present and proposed pipelines via Russia.
Ms. Merkel was also expected to bring up the issue of human rights in her talks with Russian leaders.
She had been urged by the journalists group ‘Reporters Without Borders’ to seek clarification on the case of Natalya Estemirova, a human rights activist who was murdered in Ingushetia on July 15, 2009.
Merkel, who is considerably less close to Moscow than her Social Democratic predecessor Schroeder, did raise the case of rights activist Natalya Estemirova, saying the case was important and that it was important to continue the work to find the truth about who was responsible.
Russia opened negotiations to join the WTO – ‘World Trade Organization’ – in 1993, but is still the largest world economy that remains outside the Geneva based group.
Russia has repeatedly expressed frustration with the process for accession to the WTO – it recently floated an idea to enter the global trade body as part of a customs bloc with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Merkel has expressed hope that Russia will join the WTO, in the future and that Russia’s customs union with its neighbours Kazakhstan and Belarus should not hinder these WTO talks.
German trade with China is increasing on such a scale that it now carries comparable political weight to the much more mature Germany—Russia economic relationship.
In her 4th official visit to China as Chancellor,Ms Merkel will arrives in Beijing China on Thursday where she is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and the President Hu Jintao
Prime Minister Wen, in a sign of the importance in which the Chinese consider her visit, will personally accompany her, during her stay – a concrete deal due for signing is between a derivative of the German automotive company ‘‘Daimler’ and Chinese truck maker ‘Beiqi Foton Motor’.
On Sunday on her way back from China, Ms. Merkel’s trip will include a stop in Almaty/Astana, capital city of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
With its population of 16 million and vast land mass of 2,724,900 sq/km - making it the 9th largest country in the world – it also has a huge potential as a market place for German export goods.
Tags: merkel in china, merkel in russia, Siemens Russian deal
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