04 December 2002 00:00
ON THE OUTCOME OF A WORKING VISIT TO GERMANY BY RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER MIKHAIL KASYANOV
Chairman of the Russian Government Mikhail Kasyanov held in Berlin a press conference on the outcome of his two-day working visit to Germany. He shared his impressions of his talks with FRG Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the representatives of German business circles.
Kasyanov said that at the talks with Schroeder a broad range of questions of trade-and-economic relations was discussed and ways for their further development were mapped out. In particular, he briefed the Chancellor on the progress in the North European Baltic gas pipeline project, in which the German leadership and Ruhrgas, Germany's largest gas concern, are interested. The head of the Russian Government believes that the pipeline construction can be united with the project for developing the Stockmann gas condensate field in the Barents Sea. This will to a greater extent supply the European Union's gas requirements in the future.
At the Russian Prime Minister's meeting with Jean Lemierre, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), questions of the EBRD's participation in Vneshtorgbank's capital were considered. Mikhail Kasyanov expressed the hope that the process of the entry of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development into Vneshtorgbank's capital will not get protracted, and that the result of this work will be the creation of an efficient universal bank of Russia.
As Kasyanov reported, in the course of the meeting with the representatives of major German companies he invited them to think of organizing in Russia the production of high technology goods, which are now being imported into the country. The Prime Minister gave an assurance that the Government of Russia intends to render support, first and foremost, to the investors who will put money into the updating and establishment of new enterprises in Russia's manufacturing industry.
In the course of the talks with the business representatives a number of aviation-related cooperation projects were also discussed, focusing especially on the project with the European Aerospace Agency for the production in Russia of components for European aviation systems, with an investment total of 2.5 billion dollars. In addition, the Chairman of the Russian Government noted the project for the joint development of a regional aircraft with the Dornier concern.
___________________________________________________________
© Publication of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
| 
RUSSIA IN FACTS